All Of Us
by shygirl1
Summary: AU. Max and Zack and the others deal with life in Terminal City and the ordinaries and themselves. MZ. Sequel to "Together." COMPLETED!
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Notes: Here it is! This is the sequel to "Where Were You?" and "Together." This starts about a day after "Together" ended. Enjoy!

Max wandered over to a parking garage in Terminal City and downstairs to the lowest level and grinned at the motorcycles and other vehicles parked there. "Having an actual garage here is a great idea. Even I was getting sick of keeping my bike in my apartment."

"I hear ya," Rena said. She was focused on cleaning her own motorcycle with a rag. "You want to hear something scary? My apartment here is better than the one that I held in the city. It's bigger, anyway. My old apartment was practically a closet. This one's a walk-in closet."

"I know what you mean," Max said, laughing. "You should have seen the apartment that I was living in back in San Francisco. It was so tiny, I barely had room for myself and my baby. I wish that I'd had a garage then, but even if I did I was so paranoid about people stealing my bike that I probably still would have kept it in the apartment."

"You kept that beautiful piece of machinery in a tiny-ass apartment?" Rena said. "So did I, but it worried me because I was constantly afraid that I would bang it up really good when I was just taking the thing out of the apartment when I wanted to go for a ride."

"I did, but it wasn't that bike," Max said. "I'd crashed my bike one night about two months before I left San Francisco and came to Seattle. It wasn't that bad of an accident and I was perfectly fine, but it bent some of the gears beyond what I could fix quickly and I could hear people coming to see what had happened, so I ditched the bike. It was too bad because that bike was a thing of beauty. It kind of reminded me of my Ninja. Gorgeous and black and sleek…oh well. I got another bike that was okay right after that and then I picked up this baby when I got into Seattle. Three years and it's in perfect condition."

"It's gorgeous," Rena said. "Not as much as this beauty right here, but still nice."

"Very funny," Max said. "I'm going to meet Syl and Zack over at what passes for a gym over here and we're gonna maybe go at it for a few rounds. You in?"

"Sure," Rena said. "I love to watch them get their asses kicked."

Max laughed. "Let's go."

The two of them walked over to the large warehouse that some of the transgenics living in Terminal City had set up as a gym. They heard the sounds of two people sparring inside and opened the door and walked in to find a group of people watching Becky and Jeff go at it. They found Syl and Zack standing near the front of the group and walked over to them.

"How long have they been fighting?" Rena asked.

"Eleven minutes so far," Zack said.

Rena whistled. "They're good."

"I say twenty dollars that Becky will beat Jeff," Kyle said from where he was sitting with Wes and Kevin and Vance.

Wes shook his head. "Twenty on Jeff. He'll beat her."

"I'm putting my money on Becky," Kevin said. "I'm good for twenty also. Vance?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Vance said. "Twenty on Jeff."

"Boys," Max said, shaking her head. "They're the same everywhere. I'm half surprised that Alec's not here to get in on that pool."

"What pool?" Alec said.

Max jumped and turned around to face him. "Some of Becky's and Jeff's brothers are getting a pool together on who will win."

"Put me in for twenty on Jeff," Alec said.

"Oh come on, Alec," Max said. "You're actually betting against Becky?"

"Hey, Jeff and I are from the same facility," Alec said. "I've got to show some support for the home team."

"Right on, buddy," Wes said.

They watched as the boys got some more people to join in on their pool and as Becky and Jeff continued to fight. It didn't look like it was going to end any time soon, until finally Jeff made a mistake and left his right side open and Becky elbowed him in the kidney area and he went down and stayed there catching his breath. Becky helped him up and they hugged and gave each other a kiss while the people who were watching cheered and their younger brothers made gagging noises. They walked over to where Zack, Max, Syl, Rena, Alec, Kyle, Kevin, Wes, and Vance were sitting. "How long did it run?" Becky asked breathlessly as she reached for her water bottle and drank from it.

"Fifteen minutes, twenty-one seconds," Kevin said. "Not bad."

"Thanks," Becky said. She looked at Jeff, concerned. "Are you okay? Did I hurt you with that last shot?"

"Nah, I'm fine," Jeff said. "It takes a harder hit than that to bruise one of our kidneys." He grabbed his own water bottle and drank. "Damn, that was a good workout."

"I'd say," Syl said. "You guys were impressive."

"Thanks," Becky said. "I need a shower so bad right now."

"I'll agree with that one," Kyle said. He winced as Becky smacked him across the back of his head. "Yeah, thanks, I really needed that one."

"Punk," Becky said, shaking her head.

"Who's next?" one of the other people in the room asked.

"I'll go," Zack said. "Who wants to go against me?"

"I think Kyle volunteered himself a minute ago," Becky said, smiling sweetly at him.

"Yeah, thanks," Kyle said, shaking his head. He got up and followed Zack to the center of the room. "I've gotten better since the last time you kicked my ass."

"Prove it," Zack said.

"This should be good," Max said. She grinned wickedly. "Who are you going to bet on, Becky?"

"Very funny," Becky said.

"I thought it was," Kevin said, counting the money that he'd won from the pool.

"You actually placed bets on who would win?" Becky said.

"Yeah, what did you think that we would do?" Kevin said. "Hey, I bet that you would win!"

"Should I kill him?" Becky asked the others.

"Um…no?" Kevin said.

"Yeah, I think I'll let you off easy," Becky said, ruffling his hair. She looked over to where Zack had knocked Kyle to the ground. "Whether Zack lets Kyle off easy, on the other hand…"

"Oooh, this is going to be a close one," Vance said. "Twenty on Zack."

"You just lost twenty dollars and you're still betting?" Jeff said.

"The only reason you're not betting is because you don't want your girlfriend to kick your ass again," Wes said.

"I should owe you an ass kicking for that one," Jeff said.

Wes winced. "Crap."

"Is it just me, Jeff, or should we be keeping our respective younger brothers on a choke collar sometimes?" Becky asked.

"I agree," Jeff said.

"Don't worry," Max said. "They'll grow out of it." She looked over to where Alec was placing his bet with Vance. "Maybe not."

"Men," Rena said.

"Oh yeah," Max agreed.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Max waited patiently by one of the gates in Terminal City. Brin, Wayne, and Syl had gone out to pick up stuff from her and Syl and Krit's old apartments. She looked over at the X7 who was standing next to her on sentry duty. _She must have been one of the Wyoming ones. It might be twelve years, but I'd never forget Gale's face._ "Hey, there."

"Hey," the clone said.

Max was surprised. "You talk?"

"Yes, the Wyoming and New York X7s talk," the clone said. "We were known as the X7 Alpha series. The Seattle X7s, the Beta series, communicate solely ultrasonically. We can communicate with both methods."

"Wow," Max said. "I've seen the database before, but I haven't read much about the X7 series. Your designation is X7-831, right?"

"X7-831," the clone confirmed. "I was cloned from an X5 in your unit."

"X5-831," Max said. "Her name was Gale. She died when she was two years younger than you are now." She paused. "Do you know if X7-452 survived the fire?"

"X7-452 did not survive," 831 said. "She had been ill with progeria and recovered and was sent out on sentry duty the night of the fire and we had been under orders to terminate any and all soldiers who reached the fence, orders that had come from Director Renfro whom we now know betrayed us. She was shot and killed by X4-243 as he fled the facility."

"Oh," Max said. _How am I supposed to feel about that one? Should I feel happy because she almost killed me a year ago? Should I feel sad because she and I are genetically nearly identical? I wish that I had an answer to that one._ "So, 831, do you have a name?"

"I have been using the name Blair when interacting with ordinary humans," she replied. "I suppose that it would be what you would call my name now."

"It is," Max said. She and Blair looked up and saw the truck approaching. "They're back."

"It's all clear," Blair said. "You can open the gate and let them in."

"Thanks," Max said. "I guess I'll catch you later, Blair." She walked up to the gate and opened it and waited for the truck to drive in before she shut and locked it. She walked up to the truck. "I was wondering when you guys would show up."

"Funny," Wayne said. "Your old apartment was wired. We had to go about getting the rest of your stuff carefully. Original Cindy says hi and she misses you a lot."

"You guys didn't get spotted on a camera, right?" Max said worriedly.

"There was one camera hidden near the entrance to the apartment," Brin said as she turned off the engine and got out of the truck. "That's why I went along, remember? White's never seen my face before. I went in, pretended like I was buying the stuff off of Cindy, and darn it if Wayne and Syl's company baseball caps obscured their faces as they were taking the stuff out of the apartment and to the truck." She smiled. "There were listening devices spread out everywhere. We couldn't remove them without suspicion on White's part, but we let Cindy know that they were there." She yawned. "I need to get to bed. This was the first time that I've gotten out and actually done something at least somewhat significant since Anthony was born."

"Go back to your little boy and the big ass," Max said.

"Very funny," Brin said. She sighed and then headed back to her and Alec's apartment.

"Hop in," Wayne said, sliding over to sit behind the wheel of the truck. "We'll swing by the place and drop off your stuff and then we'll drop off Syl and Krit's things."

"Works for me," Max said. She opened the passenger side door and waited for Syl to slide over before she got in and shut the door and Wayne restarted the truck and they drove over to the apartment building that Max and Zack as well as Syl and Krit were living in. They got out and opened the back of the truck and started to unload the truck. Max blinked in surprise. "She gave me the couch! She didn't have to do that! That was the only couch in the apartment."

"She said that it was your couch and you should have it," Syl said. She looked upwards. "Hey, Zack, get your lazy ass out of the ap—" She stopped when she saw Zack coming out of the building. "Never mind."

"Lazy ass?" Zack repeated.

"I'll have you know that his ass is not lazy," Max said. "It's perfect, but not lazy."

"That was too much information," Wayne joked. "But speaking of lazy…" He looked up. "Krit, I have a paintball gun in the truck and I know which apartment is yours. I will sniper you with it while you're sleeping if you don't get out here and help us with the stuff."

"Hold your horses, I'm coming," Krit snapped impatiently. A minute later, he also walked out of the building. "I'm sorry that I was in the bathroom when you guys got here, okay?"

"You should be apologizing to Syl," Wayne said, snickering. "She's the one who lives with you."

"Grow up," Syl said, slapping Wayne upside the head.

"Besides, I don't see Rena and Brin here," Krit said.

"Rena drew helping on sentry duty by the main gate from one to four in the morning and Brin's exhausted from taking care of Tony," Wayne said. He flipped Krit off. "Remember?"

Syl rolled her eyes. "Come on. Let's just get the stuff unloaded and into our apartments and then you can go off to your place and be an immature asshole in private."

"You're such a loving sister," Wayne said.

They got to work and moved the stuff into the apartments without any problems, other than when Max nearly beat the shit out of Krit when he almost threw a lamp of hers at Wayne. The finally finished and sat around the living room of Syl and Krit's place. Syl went into the kitchen and got them some water and passed the bottles around. "I am so happy that I got that fridge working."

"Let's hear it for the X-series and transhumans who got the city generators running," Krit said, raising his bottle of water in a salute before chugging it down. "Nothing like a cold bottle of water after some heavy lifting."

"You really are lazy," Max said. "That was not heavy lifting. We can lift much heavier things without breaking a sweat."

"I know," Krit said, smiling innocently. "Do I look like I'm sweating?"

Max grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. "Sometimes I can't believe that I'm related to your sorry ass. I guess it's obvious who got the brains between the two of us."

"Give it a rest," Syl said. She sighed. "Man, this has been a long week."

"I'll second that," Max said. "Busting Zack and Becky and Jeff out of the hostage situation, moving into Terminal City…that would drain anybody. Sometimes even I wonder how we manage to pull things like this off time after time and just bounce right back from them."

"It beats me," Wayne said.

Zack leaned forward and looked at Wayne. "How did you get that bruise on your face, Wayne?"

Wayne sighed. "I hit on a chick from an X5 unit from here in Seattle and she literally hit me."

"Who was it?" Syl asked.

"I think it was…" Wayne paused while he tried to recall the designation of the woman. "…786."

"Ouch," Max said. "She was in Alec and Sasha's unit. Alec hasn't said too much about the rest of his unit yet save for Sasha and 511 and I haven't talked to Sasha about it at all, but Jeff said that from what he observed back at Manticore, she and Sasha didn't get along at all. Do you think Sasha knows that 786 is here in Terminal City?"

"I don't know," Wayne said. "It's just as well that she turned me down. She went psycho on me a little after I tried to pick her up. It's not the smacking me in the face part, but she has a worse 'hate the '09ers' complex than Sasha did. That's kind of a turn off when you are one of said '09ers." He shrugged. "Plus she was a complete bitch. Not like Max…" He ducked, anticipating some kind of assault from Max. "…but like the kind that you wouldn't want to spend more than two minutes in a room with, if that."

"Screw her," Krit said. "If she's still hung up on that twelve-year-old bullshit, then she can go take a nice long trip off that short pier on the beach."

"Thanks, bro," Wayne said.

"Awww, isn't that sweet," Syl said. "They're getting along now!"

"You should talk," Wayne said. "Do I have to remind you about how you and Rena were getting your aggressions out on each other for that last joke that you played on Rena in retaliation for how Rena let you know that she was in Seattle back in February?"

"She covered my bathroom in slime," Syl reminded him. "Besides, you weren't there and we made up afterwards. We're cool now."

"I know that, but I was the one who had to put Rena's right elbow back in it's socket in the med bay this evening before dinner," Wayne said. "Oh yeah, you didn't pop any of those stitches tonight, did you?" Syl flipped him off and he laughed. "Is that a yes or a no?"

"Wayne…" Zack said.

"Okay, I'll be quiet now," Wayne said.

"When's Zane getting in?" Krit asked. "Do you have an ETA for him yet?"

"The afternoon sometime," Zack said. "He's going to call when he gets into Seattle." He glared at Krit and Wayne. "Whatever 'welcome' prank you've got planned, save it."

"You have to suck the fun out of everything, don't you?" Wayne remarked.

Zack smirked. "That's my job."

TBC

Notes: angelofdarkness78 and hphotshot5, thank you for the support. To answer your questions, hphotshot5, X5-453 (Sam) is not going to be in the story. I was originally going to have her appear in "Together," but I'd forgotten to stick her in and by the time I remembered, it was too late in the story so I decided not to have her in all together. In this AU, the only clones that the '09ers have are the X7s that we saw in "…And Jesus Brought A Casserole." Ben and Alec are identical twins and I decided to give Rena, an original character who's one of the '09ers in this fic series, an identical twin as well. There are other X5s who have clones, though. I hope this helps!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Zane stopped his bike near one of the Terminal City gates. He looked around to make sure that nobody in the area was paying any attention before he whistled a short and apparently random tune. A moment later, he could just hear the same tune being whistled back to him and the gates opened. He quickly rode his bike through and stopped his bike and got off and adjusted the backpack that he was wearing and looked around.

_So this is Terminal City,_ he thought. _It doesn't look all that bad. I wonder where the others are._

"Hey there, stranger," a female voice said. "You look like you're a little lost. What are you looking for?"

Zane turned around to face the person who had spoken to him, one of the people on sentry duty. "I'm looking for my family. They're mostly here in T.C."

"Family?" she said. "Oh, do you mean your unit?"

"Yeah," Zane said. He looked around but didn't see them.

"So, handsome, you're an X5?" the woman asked.

"I am," Zane said. "Are you?"

"I sure am," she said. She blinked her almost violet eyes and smiled flirtatiously. "X5-786. Welcome to Terminal City."

"Thanks," Zane said. He looked around again. "Listen, I've got to get going and meet up with my family before they get worried. It was nice meeting you, 786."

"Call me Diane," she said. "They can wait for a few minutes."

"Not really," Zane said. _Especially if you knew Zack at all!_ "Besides, aren't you supposed to be on sentry duty?"

"She always had a problem with sticking to her assignments when she spotted anything breathing and male," a familiar voice remarked.

Zane looked up and his eyes widened in surprise. _It's Rena—wait a second._ He took in her appearance. He'd know Rena anywhere, even with all of the years that they'd been separated, but something about her was different. _That's definitely Rena's face and that's definitely Rena's smirk but there's something off here. If I didn't know better, I'd say it wasn't Rena at all._

Diane's eyes narrowed. "Great, they let anybody in here."

"I could say the same about you," the other woman said. She looked over at Zane and saw the confusion on his face and smiled. "I'm Sasha, X5-121. I'm Rena's twin."

"Oh," Zane said. He smiled back. "Zack mentioned you before. I'm Zane, X5-205."

Diane's jaw dropped. "You're an '09er?"

"Get over it," Sasha said. "I got over it, and I have a twin in that unit. Actually, I'm surprised that you're giving yourself standards at all. You've only screwed about half of the male X-series back at the old home who was past puberty when Manticore was still standing." She shrugged and turned her attention back to Zane. "I'm sorry that the first transgenic you had to meet had to be Ms. Cheap and Easy over here. Oh yeah, 786, that reminds me. Who is the father of your child?"

"Who's the father of your twins?" Diane shot back.

"My breeding partner," Sasha replied. "511 and I actually love each other and we didn't want the other to get punished post-blown DNA lab for sneaking over to the other so we haven't slept together since before the DNA lab in Wyoming blew. You, on the other hand, didn't give a shit about any of the creeps that you slept with so it didn't matter if he got caught sneaking over to you. Let me guess, you slept with your breeding partner and then snuck around to look for that night's lay, huh?"

"Shut up," Diane snapped. She brushed some of her short black hair out of her face. "If you'll excuse me, I need to get back to sentry duty and then I've got to pick up my rugrat from the nursery." She turned around and kept her eyes on the outside.

Sasha sighed. "Sorry about that. Come on, your family is waiting for you over at Max and Zack's place." She headed off in that direction. Zane followed her, walking his bike alongside him.

"She's got some problems," he said.

"She had self-esteem issues as a child," Sasha said. "She was one of the first people in my unit to speak up against Alec and myself after we got sprung from Psy Ops back in September of '09. She was a bitch before then, too. I never liked her."

"I can see why," Zane said. "She needs some therapy."

"I've only met a few Manticore soldiers who don't need therapy," Sasha said. "I could use a good turn on the couch and not the turn on the couch that 786—Diane—is used to taking." She stopped in front of the building. "Well, here's where Max and Zack live. Your siblings Krit and Syl live in this building also. Max and Zack's place is on the fifth floor, apartment 5D. It was nice meeting you. I've got to go to the nursery and pick up my kids."

"Thanks," Zane said. "It was nice meeting you too." He chained up his bike and untied the duffle bag from it and slung it over his shoulder. He turned to face the building and took a deep breath and walked inside and up the stairs to the fifth floor and down the hall until he got to the door. He paused and listened carefully. "Hey, dipshit and dumbass, you can get away from the door. I know you guys are there."

There was a smack from the other side of the door. "Get behind the door and spring on him, he says," Wayne grumbled.

"I told you guys that it wouldn't work," Zack said.

Zane grinned and opened the door. "Hey, you guys."

"Hey, bro," Krit said. He gave Zane a hug. "I missed you so much."

"Missed you too, baby brother," Zane said. He gave Wayne a hug. "Good to see you again, Wayne."

"Same here," Wayne said, grinning.

Zane walked into the living room and dropped his stuff on the floor and gave Max a hug. "Good to see you again, Maxie. I'm not surprised that you're still in one piece."

"What can I say? I can take a beating and then go dish it out ten times worse," Max said, grinning.

"Hey, bro," Zane said. He gave Zack a quick hug. "How does it feel to be practically a celebrity?"

"Very funny," Zack said. He shook his head. "I wish I wasn't. Not much I can do about that now."

"Yeah," Zane agreed. He turned to Syl and gave her a hug. "I missed you Syl—what the hell happened to your head?" He pointed to the thin red line on Syl's forehead that had been bandaged the night before. "Let me guess—you sparred with Rena again after you found more issues with her. Wow, some things never change."

"How did you know?" Syl said. "I had about five stitches to close that gash and I had to get another five to close the gash on my back when she went to grab me from behind and I didn't quite get out of the way in time."

"Rena got the worst of it," Max said. "They were going back-and-forth yesterday afternoon in the gym here and then Syl went for a flying kick and Rena tried to block it so that Syl wouldn't connect with her head and knock her out. She sort of succeeded in blocking it. She got her right arm up in time and the kick connected with her right elbow but the force was great enough to dislocate it. That's when she connected with her left hook and opened up that gash on Syl's forehead. That was some nasty fighting. I'm just happy that you two made up."

"That's how it is with us," Syl said, shrugging. "Rena should be back in a minute or two. She's over at the med bay getting her elbow checked out."

"Forget about me?" Brin teased.

"I could never forget about you," Zane said. He walked over to Brin and hugged her. "It's wonderful to see you again, Brin. Congratulations on the baby."

"Thanks," Brin said. "I still can't believe that I'm a mother and it's been a month since Anthony was born. I didn't want to get pregnant, but I couldn't be happier that I did and that I have my little boy."

"Where is he now?" Zane asked.

"With Alec," Brin said. "Alec's such a great dad."

"It surprised me," Max said. "When I first met Alec, he was the biggest ass I'd ever met in my life. He still is, but he grew up at least a little bit since he found out that Brin was alive and still pregnant about six or so months ago."

"You'll meet both Alec and Anthony later," Brin said. "Speaking of Alec, did Sasha find you and lead you over here or did you have to ask around?"

"I found Sasha," Zane said. "She rescued me when her unit mate Diane, a.k.a. 786, tried to come onto me."

"786?" Wayne said, blinking. "She turned me down faster than a penny falling from the Space Needle after she found out that I was an '09er and she tried to get into your pants? Where's the logic in that?"

"She didn't know that I was your brother when she tried to get into my pants," Zane said. "I wanted to get away from her so that I could find you guys and that's when Sasha came by." He smirked a little. "I think you got lucky when Diane turned you down. Sasha told me that Diane was a big slut. Actually, the exact words that she used to describe Diane were 'Ms. Cheap And Easy.'"

Wayne sighed in relief. "That's something off of my mind."

Max looked at him as if he were nuts. "Am I hearing something right? Wayne actually relieved because he didn't pick up a slut?"

"I prefer my sluts to not have as many issues as I think Diane does, thank you very much," Wayne said.

"Men," Syl said.

"You're lucky," Brin said. "You've gotten Krit housebroken."

"Damn right she's lucky—hey!" Krit said. The others snickered.

"Nice," Max said.

"Thanks," Brin said. She started to say something else but was interrupted by someone knocking at the door. "That's probably Rena."

"Hey, Rena, is that you?" Max shouted.

"No, it's the Queen of England," Rena said sarcastically. She opened the door and stopped for a moment before throwing herself into Zane's arms with a loud squeal. "Zane! It's you!"

"Hey, Rena," Zane said. He gave Rena a big hug and held on tight for a few moments before he let her go. "Crap, I didn't hurt your elbow, did I?"

"Nah," Rena said.

"Man, it is so good to see you again, Ree-Ree," Zane said.

"Zane, I told you before how much I hate that nickname," Rena said. "If you call me Ree-Ree again, I will beat the shit out of you. If you don't think that I can do it just because it's my right hand that's in the sling and I'm right-handed, ask Syl over there just how good my left hook is." She grinned again and gave Zane another hug as best she could. "I've missed you so much."

"Me too," Zane said.

"Eight down, two to go," Max said, grinning.

"Jace and Jondy," Zane said. He grinned and looked around at his family. "It's good to be home."

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much to punkcatwitissues, hphotshot5, and angelofdarkness78 for their reviews and support! hphotshot5, there are one or two really good sites listed in the yahoo directory (this won't let me add specific website addresses). Yes, Zane is an '09er. You saw his back for two seconds in "Blah Blah Woof Woof" and I'm pretty sure that he was that tall kid in the flashback scene with the crow in "…And Jesus Brought A Casserole." punkcatwitissues, there will be some Brin/Alec action later in this fic. I'm not sure exactly when I'll stick it in, but it will be there. Thanks again:)


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"I'm glad that I don't have to actually be in there with the babies," Zack muttered the next day as he and Max and Zane walked over to the building where the nursery was located.

"You're scared of babies? You've dealt with us and you're scared of babies?" Zane asked.

"The last time I saw any of you at that age, I was four years old," Zack said. "Plus, I wasn't the one who dealt with you day in and day out when you were so young. The handlers and the nurses were the ones who took care of stuff like that. I just came to see you at least once a day and I didn't have complete charge of you until you were two and you were released to the normal daily activities and to the barracks." He shrugged. "I was also fearless when I was a kid."

"Is Zack actually admitting a weakness?" Zane said with exaggerated shock. "Wow, Max, you've really softened him up since you two hooked up."

"I never said that I was scared of babies," Zack insisted. "They just make me nervous."

"Oh," Zane said knowingly. "Let me guess and either of you tell me if I'm wrong—you're nervous around babies because you're just starting to think that you might want to be a parent yourself and the idea is scaring the crap out of you. Am I right or am I right?" He grinned when he saw Zack glare at him. "Yep, I'm right."

"We've only discussed it maybe once recently," Max admitted. "But neither of us is completely ready and I know that neither of us wants to bring a kid into the world with all of this madness going on with White's freaky cult thing and the whole transgenics being hunted down deal." She laughed. "I think I had something like this talk with Syl last month when Sasha showed up."

"Well, here we are," Zane said when they reached the building. "Come on, bro, let's go get to work on those rooms on the second floor." He adjusted the tool bag on his shoulder. "Have fun watching over the kids, Maxie."

"Go try not to break too much stuff," Max said. She gave Zack a kiss. "I love you. I'll see you later."

"I love you too, Maxie," Zack said. He gave Max one more kiss before he followed Zane into the building. Max smiled and went inside the building herself and down a hall to a room and opened it and went inside. "Hey, I'm here for my shift to help watch the babies."

"Great," the woman who was watching the babies said. "You're early. Where's 734?"

"She'll be here soon," Max said. "She's probably trying to get her son ready to bring him here."

"Good point," the woman said. "I was never in the breeding program, but I've known plenty of people who have children and they told me about how long it would take sometimes to get themselves and the kid ready to go somewhere. I'm X3-072. You can call me Morgan. I'll stick around until Brin gets here."

"I'm Max," Max said. "Thanks." She looked around the room and all of the babies. "How many breeding program participants are there in Terminal City? I already know of Sasha, Brin, and Diane."

"So far, we have 30 of the females who have participated in the breeding program here in Terminal City," Morgan said. "Those are the successful ones. I'm not counting you."

Max smirked. "It's amazing how word gets around, isn't it?"

Morgan laughed. "Yeah. I think there were a combined total of 450 or so females who successfully participated in the breeding program. We don't even have a tenth of them here in Terminal City right now, and not even half of those babies are in this nursery right now."

"Wow," Max said. "You guys are seriously going to have to expand this place later. So, who are all these kids? I know Jade and Julia over there. Sasha's on sentry duty right now over by the west gate, I think."

"Right," Morgan said. "This little girl here is Anna. She's Diane's daughter."

"Oh yeah, Diane the Slut," Max said. Morgan looked at her curiously and she shrugged. "Sasha gave me the 411 on Diane. I guess you weren't from the Seattle facility."

"Nope, I was from the New York facility," Morgan said. They turned to the door and saw Brin enter the room. "Great, there you are!" She walked over to a table and picked up a clipboard and handed it to Max. "Here's a chart of which babies are in which cribs and their names and who their mothers are."

Max frowned. "There are designations on here. X11-300, X11-972…" She blinked. "There are eight designations on here, all X11. What's with that?"

Morgan shrugged. "For some reason, the children of the X4s were born with barcodes. I don't know how that happened. It must be something in their DNA. Are you guys set over here?"

"Yeah, we'll be fine," Brin said.

"Great," Morgan said. "X5-194 and X6-563 will be here to relieve the two of you in three hours. Thanks again." She left the nursery.

"It looks like just you, me, and these little guys," Max said as she walked around and checked on the babies. Fortunately, they were all napping.

"Yep," Brin said. She walked over and set Anthony down in a crib before she took her jacket off and hung it from the back of a chair. She took the clipboard and made a note on it. "We're lucky that Anthony's the only one who's up."

Right on cue, one of the babies started to make whimpering noises. "That's Jade," Max said. "I'll get her." She got up and took Jade out of her crib and checked to see if her diaper was wet. After she saw that it wasn't, she got a bottle of formula out of the refrigerator and sat down in a chair and started to feed her. "She's got her mommy's and her aunt's appetite doesn't she?"

"Nobody can guzzle down a bottle of formula like my little guy here," Brin said proudly. She picked her son back up and sat down in a chair next to Max. "Isn't that right, Anthony? Aren't you just the best little boy there ever was?" She tickled him gently and Anthony gurgled happily.

"He really is beautiful," Max said. She smirked. "He sure does love the attention. Like father, like son."

"He's definitely a lot like Alec," Brin agreed.

Max noticed the look on Brin's face as she carefully set the bottle down and burped Jade. "Brin? Is something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Brin said. "Things are great. Alec and I are really good friends. We're raising this incredible child together. I don't have anything to complain about."

"Yeah, right," Max said. She got up and put Jade back in her crib. "I know you better than that. Spill."

"It's just—I think that I like Alec as more than a friend," Brin admitted. "I know I like Alec as more than a friend. I want to tell him how I feel, but I don't know if he's completely over his old girlfriend dying. That was a traumatic experience and he's doing so well, but I don't know if he's doing well enough to really seriously date somebody yet and I care about him too much to force this on him."

"I'm not sure what to tell you," Max said. "Alec can be the world's biggest pain-in-the-ass and the king of all smart alecks, but he also never turns his back on a friend and I've seen him around Anthony and he seems to me like he's a great dad. As much as he annoys me, I can honestly say now that he's one of my best friends and he would be a great guy for you. I guess you can try to ask him how he feels about seriously dating somebody now without going right at the actual issue, but is that even possible? These kinds of things have this habit of blowing up or almost blowing up in your face."

"Tell me about it," Brin said. "The situation I'd had with the last serious boyfriend I'd had before I'd gotten sick and re-captured by Manticore was kind of like that, only he'd wanted to marry me. We'd been dating for three months by then and we'd started to sleep together and he just popped the question. I didn't feel that way about him. I don't know if I would have if things had been different and I hadn't gotten sick later and all of that. I told him nicely that I wasn't ready and he said that he was and we started to have a screaming match, but then we calmed down and that was that. I think for whatever reason, he wanted to get married quickly because right before I got sick and bailed out of town to Seattle, I saw him when I went grocery shopping. He was with his new wife. They'd apparently eloped to Vegas the week before."

"That's still a hell of a lot better ending than my last serious pre-Zack relationship," Max said. She shuddered. _Even after seven months, it still hurts and angers me to know how Logan betrayed me. After everything we'd been through…_ "I still get pissed off and I still feel hurt when I think about Logan. It still boggles my mind that he couldn't wrap his head around the fact that Zack's the one that I've wanted all along."

"How is it with you and Zack?" Brin asked.

Max grinned. "Fantastic. It's better than fantastic. I'm not just talking about the sex…" She purposefully trailed off and she and Brin giggled. "…but just everything about our relationship is wonderful. I guess when you finally find the one that you're meant to be with, it falls into place and it feels better than right."

"Yeah," Brin said thoughtfully. "There are definitely times when I get a feeling like that around Alec. Like when he and I and Anthony are in our apartment together and we're just sitting around the living room and playing with the baby and it clicks, you know? I feel like we're a real family and it feels so right that we're together and raising our son together, except the only problem is that Alec and I aren't actually together."

"Keep the hope up," Max said. "If it's meant to be, it'll happen. If not, you'll still have a great friend and most importantly, a great kid that he helped give you."

"You're right," Brin said. "Thanks, Maxie."

"You're welcome," Max said.

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much to Casper, steph, and hphotshot5 for their reviews! steph, Syl and Krit are a pairing in this fic but Jondy and Zane aren't. There will be some other pairings coming up later. hphotshot5, as for X7-453, she didn't make it in this fic and I went back and changed her designation to X7-452, as well as changing that other clone's (Blair) designation as well. I guess, for future reference, if it's a clone within the same generation, the designations are different but if it's a clone that's in a different generation, the designations are pretty much the same other than the generation. Yeah, that pretty much is the best website that I've found so far. I can't send you an email because this site cuts off an email address if you leave one in a review, but if you want to send me an email, just click on the link in my user profile and I'll be happy to email you specific website addys. Thanks again!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"…yeah, I guess it would be hard to believe for him if he really was that old," Max said. "I know. It would have been nice to have seriously experienced that pre-Pulse." She looked up and saw Zack enter in the apartment. "I'll see you tomorrow, Jondy. Yeah, I know. Yes, he is. Okay, I'll see you then. 'Bye." She disconnected the phone and threw it on the coffee table and walked up to Zack and gave him a hug and a kiss. "Hey. How was it down in weapons storage?"

"Supplies are good," Zack said. "Those X5s that brought in those weapons brought them in disassembled so we spent most of the shift putting them together." He shrugged. "One of the other two X5s that were on shift with me decided that he wanted to give me crap when I was putting together this newer-model semi about how could I know how to put it together when it came out post-'09 and you can guess the rest. He probably is on his way to see someone down in the med bay for ice for his split lip."

"That's my man," Max said. She grinned wickedly. "Didn't want to admit to him that Becky showed you how to put that gun together, huh?"

Zack mock glared at her. "I learned how to do it myself." He sighed. "I haven't heard back from Wayne yet about the results from Little Max's blood test. He told me before he went out a couple of hours ago to the motel that Jace and Jondy are staying for the night that it shouldn't take too long with the equipment that they managed to pick up earlier this week."

"I'm impressed," Max said. "That they managed to score medical equipment like that and that Wayne knows how to use it. Self-taught?"

"Not exactly," Zack said. "A couple of years ago when Wayne was living in Alabama, he lied about his age and put himself through medical school. I was pretty pissed off about it initially, but Wayne insisted that he used a fake name and took every other precaution that he could think of short of not enrolling in medical school at all and I finally told him that it was fine but I would relocate him the second that he got the M.D. He said fine and that was what happened." He shrugged. "Then Wayne ended up relocating again a few months later when I accidentally compromised everyone after Lydecker let me loose to try to bring everyone back to Manticore so I heard it from him a lot when I checked up on him after he moved to Mississippi."

"And then you heard it from him a lot just because of the fact that he was in Mississippi at all," Max said, recalling how when she and Wayne were catching up on each other's lives the month before, Wayne had complained about the town where he'd lived in.

"I finally let him move to Savannah to shut him up," Zack admitted. "Even I have my limits."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that again," Max said. "We're all here, or at least we will be tomorrow if that DNA analysis that Wayne and the other people down in the med bay are doing on Little Max says that she's also immune to the toxic crap that's still floating around in the air in this area."

Zack nodded and turned to look out of the window. "We are this close to being all together again and I love it, don't get me wrong. This just almost feels too good to be true. This isn't going to last forever, Max. Things are good right now, but at some point White's going to press in on us and things will go to hell in a hurry when that happens. I don't want to let my guard down completely."

"I'm not asking you to completely let your guard down," Max said. "We do need to stay alert in case White decides that the bruising on his ego has gone down enough for him to take another major shot at us. You should enjoy the moment, though. We've gone a long way just to at least get this. Our family together…you and I…we've dreamed about things like this for so long and now everything's coming together on that front and we should take at least a moment to enjoy it."

"I'm enjoying this," Zack assured her. "Trust me. I'm happy about all of this."

Max nodded understandingly. "But it's just in your nature to be on guard against trouble all the time. I know you. It's cool." She sighed impatiently. "What isn't cool is waiting for Wayne to call with those damn results. I want to see Jondy and Jace again and meet my only niece for the first time."

"You'll see them tomorrow," Zack said. "Even if the test results say that Little Max isn't immune to the toxins here, you and everybody will see the three of them tomorrow. Besides, it's still shorter than I'd originally thought that it would be. I only called Jace and Jondy and told them to come here to Seattle and Terminal City five days ago. I thought that it would take at least a day or two longer for them to get here than it actually did. Jondy really made some good time."

"She did," Max agreed. "I guess that Shark DNA of ours comes in handy, especially when you need to drive through the night for consecutive nights." She sat back down on the couch. "So, do you have any plans for tonight? We could probably find something to do." She sighed. "I want to go out and race you on our bikes, but that'd be a little risky considering I don't have a helmet like you do."

Zack shrugged. "You could always borrow Becky's helmet. I don't think that she'd mind." He sat down beside Max. "I could stretch my legs, so to speak. It's not that I mind staying in Terminal City, it's actually a pretty large area, but…"

"I know the feeling," Max said. "It's still nice to be able to be somewhere where you don't have to hide who you are. I like the feeling of being able to walk outside with my hair up and not having to worry about having somebody seeing my barcode and immediately freaking out and setting military or NSA assholes on my tail. It's great."

"It is," Zack agreed. They sat silently together on the couch for a few moments before Zack's cell phone rang. He looked at the number and answered it. "What have you got for me, Wayne?" He listened for a few moments before he smiled a little. "That's great. That's definitely a relief. Not until later? That does make sense. Yeah, they'll be coming through the west gate. I'm not sure where we'll all meet. I haven't decided that yet. Okay, get to it then. I'll talk to you tomorrow." He disconnected. "The tests on Little Max came up fine. She inherited Jace's immunity to nuclear and other toxic material and waste. Wayne also said something about Jace's X5 genes being dominant in Little Max in certain areas or something like that, it was some kind of medical crap that even I have a hard time understanding, but the short of it is that she will most likely show X5 traits as she grows up, just like Case did." He shrugged. "She'll be here, so she'll be safe when that happens. Anyway, I'll call Jondy tomorrow morning after we've all gotten some sleep and we'll coordinate when and where we'll meet here in T.C."

"Good," Max said. She grinned. "The sun is still setting and we shouldn't go out to race our bikes until it has definitely set. In the mean time…"

"You read my mind," Zack said. He got up off of the couch, pulled Max up, and led her into their bedroom.

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much to angelofdarkness78 and hphotshot5 for their reviews! hphotshot5, both Cece and Lydecker are still alive in this fic. Cece hasn't made an appearance yet (but she will later), and Lydecker briefly appeared in the immediate prequel to this fic ("Together") and then went away again, but he is still alive and he'll be coming back at some point down the road. Also, I might have other characterssuch asGem and Dalton pop up. As for a season 3, Dark Angel is officially canceled. Damn it. :P


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"Thanks for dragging your ass away from playing doctor to help me with the TVs in here," Zane said to Wayne the next day as they were repairing a TV in what was being set up to be a rec room in the main building in Terminal City.

"Playing doctor? I am a doctor," Wayne said. He grinned.

"Oh, that's right. I forgot that degree that you for whatever reason keep in your apartment in the desk drawer," Zane said.

"Boys, play nice or I'm going to have to sic Zack on you," Max teased.

"Oh, no, anything but that," Wayne said in mock horror. "You know that I can't take it!"

"Yeah, neither can I," Zane said, grinning.

"Boys," Syl said. "Speaking of which, where is Zack?"

"He'll be here soon," Max said. "He's waiting over by the west gate for Jondy and Jace and Little Max. They should be getting here any minute now."

"I can't wait," Brin said. "All of us together for the first time in twelve years." She grinned excitedly. "I feel like a little kid. Well, considering our childhoods, what a little kid should feel like. I don't remember the last time I was this excited."

Rena laughed. "I know what you mean. I think the last time I was this excited was when I was twelve and I was living just outside of Dallas and my foster family threw me a party for my fake birthday. It was only the second time that I'd celebrated a birthday. Zane and I had gotten a little cake from a bakery about a month or so after my actual birthday that year and considering that the Pulse had happened only two weeks before then and we were only three months out of Manticore, we had a great time. The one my foster family threw for me was pretty classic, though. Big cake, lots of candles, presents, friends, everything. It was so awesome."

"If it was so good with your foster family, why did you leave?" Krit asked.

"My foster dad died two or so years after that," Rena said. "The state let me stay with my foster mom I guess since I was fourteen and more self-reliant than like an eight or nine-year-old would be 'cause they moved my younger foster sister and she was about eight at the time. A few days after my fifteenth birthday, my actual fifteenth birthday and not the one I made up when I went into the foster care system in Texas, my foster mom started to date again. It was okay until she started dating this one guy right after my assumed fifteenth birthday at the end of December and that was even okay at first until he came to the house to pick her up for a date about a week-and-a-half after they'd started dating. He was wearing a military uniform and I knew that they weren't going to a costume party. I almost had a heart attack. As soon as they left, I packed my things, stole my foster mom's car which I still feel a little bit guilty about, and drove to Fort Worth and picked up a bus to Abilene and then got a motel room and called Zack and I haven't been back to Texas since."

"Of all the people that your foster mom had to date, it would have had to have been someone military," Max said.

"That's not the best part," Rena said. "You guys have no idea how lucky I got because the guy who my foster mom was dating was connected to Manticore. He was a guard from the Seattle facility who was on leave so of course he'd seen Sasha around at Manticore and according to Zack, who told me this a few weeks later after he'd done some surveillance on my foster home to make sure that I was in the clear, he'd thought that I'd looked familiar and then that night after he'd banged my foster mom and they were in bed in his hotel room, it hit him that I looked exactly like Sasha and he knew that Sasha had a twin so he put in a call to either Renfro or Lydecker or whomever and they were combing the place within hours of his call. I missed them by about…" She paused while she tried to remember. "…six hours, I think. I've lived on my own ever since."

"You always liked to live on the edge, huh, Rena?" Krit said with a smirk.

"You know it," Rena said. "Whether it's pulling stunts on my bike or leading a 100 mph plus chase on my bike or missing Manticore by a few hours because my foster mom is dating someone from there, you can just call me a regular freaking adrenaline junkie."

"There, got that done," Zane said, tightening the final screw on the TV. He put his tools down and turned to Rena and the others. "You want to talk about stunts on a motorcycle, you should have seen it this one time when I was seventeen—" He abruptly stopped and he and the others turned around at the sound of a few people entering the room.

"Wow, complete and utter silence," Jondy said in mock surprise. "I'd never thought I'd see the day when that came from everybody."

"Finally," Max said happily. She got up and ran over to Jondy and gave her a big hug. "How have you been? How was Arizona?"

"Living in Flagstaff wasn't bad," Jondy said. "It's a little slower than San Francisco was, but it was still okay."

"Holy shit, Jace!" Krit said in surprise. He ran up and hugged her. "I can't believe it's you!"

"Watch your mouth around my daughter," Jace said, but she was laughing and she tried to return Krit's hug with her free arm. "It's good to see you too, little brother. I missed you so much. I've really missed all of you, even back when I was at Manticore and they tried to make me not care about you guys."

"Oh, Jace, is this your daughter? She's beautiful," Syl said, looking at Little Max. "How old is she?"

"Ten months," Jace said. "Little Max, say hi to all of your aunts and uncles." She passed the baby to Syl, who was the closest one to her. "Don't worry about holding her. She really likes the attention."

"She's absolutely beautiful," Max said. "I guess she looks like her daddy."

"Yeah, she does," Jace said sadly. "I miss Victor so much and I have no idea where he is right now or if he's even alive, but having Little Max here helps a lot. She's just an absolute sweetheart."

"Speaking of babies, I can't wait to show off Anthony to you," Brin said proudly. "He is the most beautiful little boy and he is such a good baby."

"Brin, the proud mom," Zane teased.

"Just wait until you have a kid," Brin said. "I can guarantee you that you'll be going on non-stop about how great he or she is and how he or she can do anything and how beautiful he or she is. Just wait and see, Zane."

"Not for a few years if I can help it," Zane said.

"Don't mind your Uncle Zane," Syl told Little Max. "He's got a few screws loose in his head. So does Uncle Wayne."

"Oh, she likes Wayne," Jace said. "When he came over to the motel room that we crashed at last night, she was smiling at him and laughing and she didn't even make a peep when he took some blood and just gave her a quick general checkup."

"Awww, her first visit to the pediatrician," Rena said, her voice overly sweet. "Isn't that sweet? You were so lucky to witness that big event, Jondy."

"I know," Jondy said. She pretended to wipe a tear from one of her eyes. "The look on Little Max's face when Wayne brought out that stethoscope and listened to her heartbeat brought tears to my eyes. It was quite a moment there. It really was." She and Rena and Max started laughing.

"Some things never change," Zack said.

"Yeah," Wayne said. He turned to Krit and Zane. "You guys do realize that now that those three are together again, we're going to have to be as far away from them as possible because we all know what happens when we're not."

"I was the one who got kitchen duty for a week straight, remember?" Krit said.

"Boys, boys, boys," Jondy said. She threw an arm around Krit's shoulders. "You three aren't afraid of three girls, are you?"

"Three girls? Nope," Zane said. "Three hell beasts? That we are afraid of." He ducked the fist that Jondy swung at him.

"Yeah, some things really never change," Zack said.

"I know," Max said. She looked around and grinned. "I can't believe it. We're finally all together again."

"We are," Zack said. "We'll stay that way this time. I promise."

TBC

Notes: Thanks again to hphotshot5 and angelofdarkness78 for their reviews and support! hphotshot5, Little Max and the other X-series children will probably be trained to some extent when they are older, though I haven't decided yet if I'm going to take this fic that far. As for Bullet, Zero, Fixit, Ralph, they'll all be showing up. Actually, Ralph already has. I put her in my fic "Together" as part of Jeff's unit and she'll be appearing in this fic as well. The events that happened in "Bag 'Em" didn't happen in "Together" (which, along with this fic and I guess "Where Were You?" which is the first in this series, is an AU). Anyway, thanks again!


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"It's the six of us girls, no boys in sight," Jondy said happily, stretching her legs as she sat on the floor in the master bedroom in Max and Zack's apartment. "The four of them are doing some kind of bonding thing that I don't want to think about though it's probably them sitting around and drinking beer and the kids are in the nursery. Now, what can we do to amuse ourselves?"

"I know what we can do," Syl said. Her eyes glittered wickedly. "Six sisters, no brothers in sight…"

"Slumber party?" Brin guessed.

"You read my mind," Syl said. She grinned.

"I don't know," Max said hesitantly. "I never really got the whole slumber party deal."

"It'll be fun," Syl said. "Basically, we just sit around in our pajamas and we watch movies and talk about stuff that makes boys squeamish. We do each other's hair and makeup and stuff like that. It's pretty much a female bonding ritual."

"Do we really need to be in our pajamas for that?" Jace wondered. "We're all here and there are no men around. Why do we have to go through the trouble of going back to our apartments and getting changed into our pajamas and coming back here?"

"Soilsport," Syl said, sticking her tongue out at Jace.

"She's got something of a point," Rena said. "We can still watch movies and talk about the stuff that will make the guys go running for the hills." She grinned. "There's one question that absolutely must be asked at any slumber party. Who was your first?"

"Guy you've had sex with or kissed?" Max asked.

Rena shrugged. "Both, I guess. So how about it, Maxie? Who was your first?"

"Let me think," Max said. "The first guy I ever had sex with was this guy that I had dated for a few months when I was living in San Francisco. I was about sixteen at the time. He was pretty cute. Kinda tall, brown hair, nice eyes, but he had this tendency to pick his teeth in public when we'd go out to eat with out using a toothpick or at least trying to hide it. That was kind of disgusting."

Jondy's eyes widened. "Holy shit, I dated that guy, too! I met him a few weeks after I got into San Francisco and we dated for about a month."

"Damn," Max said. "First I find out that you snagged my old bike and now I find out that we both dated this guy. Unbelievable." She shook her head. "So, Rena? How about your firsts?"

"First guy I had sex with was a boyfriend of mine when I was in high school when I was about fourteen," Rena said. "The first guy I ever kissed…" She trailed off and blushed. "…was Zane."

"Zane? Are you kidding me?" Syl said.

"I swear I'm not kidding you," Rena said. "It was the night of the Pulse. Most of you know that Zack had paired us together when we'd escaped. Zane and I were living in Virginia at the time sort of close to D.C. The town that we were living in was on the ocean and it was pretty warm for that time of the year so we'd gone for a night swim, or at least Zane went swimming while I sat on the beach and made fun of him. After he was done, we'd left the beach and were trying to figure out where to go for a late dinner when we had to duck the hell out of the way because this neon sign that was above us had shorted out and was showering sparks like mad. We saw that there's been some kind of blackout so we sat down on the sidewalk and took out our portable radio and turned it on and waited for some kind of news. Then we got into a conversation about stuff that we were looking forward to doing and I'd mentioned that I was looking forward to getting my first kiss and after a minute Zane said something like 'let's get it over with' and he offered to kiss me and I said yes and he kissed me on the lips." She smiled. "It didn't last very long, but it was…something good. I didn't know quite the right words to describe it at the time, but I knew that I had liked it and I thought or at least I'd hoped that Zane had liked it, too." She rolled her eyes. "Then we'd heard on the news about the terrorists setting off the Pulse and that ruined the moment and we didn't think about it too much after that."

"Oooooh, Rena likes Zane! Rena likes Zane!" Syl teased.

"Oh, grow up Syl," Rena said. "That was almost twelve years ago and it was one kiss. We were kids. Big freaking deal."

"Big freaking deal? I saw the way that you looked at Zane when he arrived here last week and you came over here after you got your elbow looked at," Brin said. "You were a hair away from giving him a nice big smooch."

"That's a load of bull," Rena protested. "I was not."

"Au contraire, dear sister," Jondy said. "You have been giving him these looks behind his back when you think nobody's looking. Okay, maybe you aren't even aware that you were doing that, but trust me, you were."

"Liar," Rena sang.

"Okay, okay, let's leave Rena alone," Max said, snickering. "I'm sure that we can all humiliate her with this later. Who's got the next question?"

"I've got it," Jondy said. "What was the stupidest thing you've ever done post-escape? I guess you can answer this one too, Jace. Either after we escaped or after Maxie helped you leave."

"Gotten caught or not gotten caught?" Max asked.

"Not gotten caught," Jondy said. "How about…Syl. What's the stupidest thing you've ever done post-escape and not gotten caught at it?"

"That's a tough one," Syl said. "I've done a few stupid things between leaving Manticore and now."

"She admits it! It's a miracle! It's a miracle!" Rena said. She fell to her knees and pretended to cry. "I can't believe it. I never thought that I would see the day when Syl would admit that she's done stupid things in her lifetime. Oh, somebody give me a tissue. This is overwhelming."

"Shut up," Syl said. She slapped Rena across the back of her head. "I'm willing to bet that no matter how many stupid things I've done, they can't compare to how many dumb things that you've done."

"Does doing them while running for my life count?" Rena asked.

"Nope," Jondy said. "Besides, I asked Syl the question and she still hasn't answered it yet. Oh yeah, and banging a random guy while you're in heat doesn't count. That just goes with the territory."

"So it's just dumb in general, then?" Syl asked.

"Yeah," Jondy said. "Go ahead, sis."

"Then I guess it would have to be the time—" Syl was cut off when she heard Rena trying to sneak off to the bathroom with her purse. "Rena, I swear if you try to soak that thing in water and ruin it, I will do a lot more than screw up your elbow this time."

"Damn," Rena said. She walked back over to Syl and handed her the purse and sat back down on the floor. "I knew I should have been quieter."

"Sucks to be you," Syl said. She stuck her tongue out at Rena and turned to Jondy. "How about we try another question?"

"Sure," Jondy said. "Have any of you slept with a random guy when you were in heat but then actually went on to have something of a normal relationship with him, whether it was friendship or romantic or whatever. Anybody?"

Brin raised her hand. "I was in heat the night that Anthony was conceived. Does that count?"

"I guess so," Jondy said. "You slept with Alec and you guys are friends…" She saw the look on Brin's face but this time let it go. "…so it sounds like it counts." She looked thoughtful. "Was the sex good?"

"Jondy," Jace said, rolling her eyes.

"Come on, Jace," Jondy said. "Speaking for those of us here that have not had sex with a fellow X5 and unless I'm mistaken that includes you, I think that we all deserve to know if it's better than sex with an ordinary human male which I know that we've all had. Spill it, Brin. How good was Alec in bed?"

"I'm not telling," Brin said. She smirked.

"I knew it! He was great in bed," Jondy said. "I know you too well, Brin, and you haven't changed a bit."

"Hey, you know that when you're in heat you lose track of everything when you're getting busy," Brin said.

"Not really," Max said. "It was never that way for me, but I haven't had sex with Zack when I've been in heat yet. We're kind of trying to avoid that."

"Moving on," Brin said loudly. The other giggled and she smiled. "Jace, when was the first time that you realized that you loved Victor?"

"It was probably this one time about two-and-a-half years ago," Jace said. "I'd known Victor sort-of personally for about three months already, ever since he started working at Manticore. I'd have to go to the labs and get blood drawn or get meds for something or another, you know how it goes. I never liked getting blood drawn. I still don't. I'm almost as bad about it as Parker used to be. You guys remember how much he hated getting blood taken, don't you? Anyway, this one day I had to go get blood drawn because this one entire unit of X8s had somehow managed to get sick with some kind of virus when they were out training in the woods and since my unit—I was re-assigned to Unit 1 after you guys left and I stayed behind—had been in the woods with the X8 leading the exercise that we were running and none of us had gotten sick, they wanted to see if there was something maybe in our immune systems that somehow was missing from theirs. The point is, I go down to the lab and fortunately for me, it was Victor who would be the one who would draw my blood. I sat down in the chair and he saw how I was tensing as he was tying the tourniquet on and he just made this joke. It was the one about the duck going into the store asking for grapes. Have any of you heard that one? Anyway, Victor told me the joke and I'd heard the joke before when I was out on a mission and it didn't strike me as funny then, but when Victor told it to me, I started laughing. It was the first time since Zane had joked around with all of us the morning of the day that Jack died that I had laughed at a joke. I looked into his eyes as he was taking the blood and all of a sudden, everything faded away and it was just the two of us and that was all she wrote." She sighed happily.

"That's actually really romantic, Jace," Syl said. "You guys will be together again. I'm sure you will be."

"Yeah," Max said. "Keep up the hope."

"Yeah," Rena said. She narrowed her eyes. "You said that Zane was the last guy before Victor to make you laugh."

"I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!" Syl said triumphantly. "I knew that Rena wants Zane in the worst way."

"Relax, Rena," Jace said. She grinned. "Wayne and Kenny would also make me laugh on a regular basis when we were kids. There's nothing special about Zane…" She trailed off and waited for Rena's reaction, snickering

"You're just baiting me and it won't work," Rena said smugly.

Max coughed. "Bullshit."

"I am not admitting a thing," Rena said.

"Ha! You just admitted that there was something to admit!" Jondy said gleefully. "How much do you guys want to bet that Zane—" She was cut off by the pillow that Rena had swiped from the bed and hurled right in her face. The others laughed, and after a moment, so did Jondy and Rena. "Nice shot, sis."

"I thought so," Rena said. She grinned. "Next question. Who…"

TBC

Notes: I can't thank hphotshot5 and angelofdarkness78 for their reviews and support! It really means a lot :)


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"Hey, Kyle," Becky said. "Do you know where Jeff is?"

"Probably over in med bay," Kyle said. "He was watching Ralph spar with someone from Seattle X6 Unit 2 and Ralph got injured in the fight. She actually won, though. The girl she was sparring with took it worse than Ralph did."

"Good for Ralph," Becky said. "Do you know when Jeff will be back?"

"As soon as they finish bandaging and stitching Ralph up," Kyle said. "I don't think it will be that much longer. Why? Do you guys have a date or something?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Becky said. "I got a new pirated satellite hookup going in my apartment and we're going to watch some TV together. Maggie said that she'd stay out of the apartment while Jeff and I are there so we'll have privacy." She sighed and looked out in the direction of the closest fence. "Sometimes…damn, I hate being trapped here. It's much better than how we had it at Manticore, but I still feel trapped sometimes. Damn Ames White and whatever freaky cult he's a part of. Damn selective breeding."

"But all hail genetic engineering?" Kyle teased.

Becky shook her head and laughed. "Thanks, Kyle. I needed that."

"No problem," Kyle said. "You know I'm there when you need me."

"Yeah," Becky said. "You've been my best friend as well as my second-in-command for as long as I can remember. We've always been there for each other."

"Like the trials for command of the X6s back at Manticore in Wyoming," Kyle recalled. "You were always helping me polish my skills the last few weeks leading up to the trials even though I kept telling you that since I was a second-in-command, I didn't stand a chance in hell of making C.O. of the entire squad even though I was eligible because I was an officer, even though it meant that I could potentially be taking that spot from you."

"And look what happened," Becky said. "Lydecker named you second-in-command of the X6 squad. All of that help paid off. You remember what he said to all of us X6s when he called us together to announce the commanding officer and second-in-command. Not only were our scores extremely high, but we worked the best as a team. We've been a team for eighteen years now, Kyle. That's not going to change. You and me, brother and sister, working together."

"You and Jeff work really well together," Kyle observed. "I've seen you two spar against each other and work together helping to plan some of the supply raids that we're going to be pulling off within the next week and you guys work great together. You work well together, you play well…" He made a face. "Gross. I really didn't need that mental image to come up."

Becky snickered. "Serves you right, Kyle. You've always had a little bit of a sick mind." She froze and a split second later, so did Kyle. "Oh great, of all the transgenics that had to come to Terminal City, he had to show up."

"Look who's here," an arrogant male voice drawled. "It's the Wyoming Ice Queen."

Becky turned around and faced the young man who'd spoken to her. "Hello, 224." Her voice was as icy as it had ever been. "I'm glad to see that you made it out of the fire. How long have you been here in Terminal City?"

"I only got here about an hour ago," 224 said. "I just dumped my things into my new apartment and I'd thought I'd take a walk around the area. It's pretty big."

"Yeah, it's the size of a small town at least," Kyle said, his expression and voice nearly as ice cold as Becky's. He'd never liked 224 very much, either. "There's plenty of room even for your ego."

"Oh, hello there, 115," 224 said.

"It's Kyle," Kyle said.

"Whatever," 224 said dismissively. "So, 405, how long have you been here?"

"Three weeks now," Becky said.

"I see you don't have a scar from the last time we saw each other," 224 said with a smirk.

"Very funny," Becky said. "The damn scar went away within a week. That was a really classy move there, 224. Waiting until after the trainer called a halt to our fight, which I won if my memory serves me correctly, before catching me by surprise and slashing my cheek with the damn weapon. Really, really classy. Did they let you out of the brig before the fire, or were you still there when Renfro lit the match?"

"I got sprung from the brig the afternoon of the fire," 224 said. He looked Becky up and down. "You know, 405, we're all out of Manticore and everything, so we've all got a fresh start so to speak. How about we have a fresh start?"

Becky looked disgusted. "A fresh start? We never had _a_ start! Why don't you reach up your ass and yank your head out of it and put it back on your neck and take a look around because I told you once and since you've apparently forgot about it, I'll tell you again. I will never be your girlfriend and I will never _ever_ sleep with you." She smirked. "Even if I had the slightest interest in you, it's still a no-can-do. I've got an amazing boyfriend."

"Who, this loser?" 224 said, pointing to Kyle.

"No, me," Jeff said coldly. He and Ralph walked up to them. "224."

"941," 224 greeted. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought that it would be safer for me if I moved out of my apartment in the main part of Seattle and settled here," Jeff said. "There were some circumstances that led me to that conclusion."

"Did you almost get caught?" 224 mocked. "The great 941, the one who always thought that he was better than me, got caught and had to run like a scared little girl."

"I didn't get caught," Jeff said. _Not quite like the way that you wish I did, asshole._ "Why are you here? Did you get spotted and almost caught?"

"No way," 224 said, smirking.

Jeff bit his lip to hide a smirk of his own. _He's still full of shit. He did almost get caught by somebody and had to come running here. He probably let his arrogance get the better of him. As much as I hate to admit it, he did use to be better than that. He did pretty much earn his rank. But he just seems so much fuller of himself than he used to be._ "Fine. It really doesn't matter why you are here. The fact is that you are here and like I heard you say to Becky, we've got a fresh start here. I'm willing to make it one. Are you?"

"Yeah," 224 said slowly. "You're right. From what I've observed in the little while that I've been here in Terminal City, we all have to work together."

"Good," Jeff said. _This isn't going to last. Maybe it will for awhile, but I know 224 too well. It won't last forever._ "Becky and Ralph and Kyle and I have to go now. Do you have a name, 224?" _I don't mind continuing to call you asshole._

"Yeah," 224 said. "You can call me Rob." He turned around and walked away.

"He hasn't changed," Ralph said. "I never liked him back at Manticore and I still don't."

"Neither do I," Jeff said angrily. "If he tries anything, Rob will be in a world of pain so bad, he'll be begging for Psy Ops."

Becky put a hand on Jeff's shoulder. "Calm down, sweetie. You have nothing to worry about." She smiled. "Tall, dark, and asshole isn't my type."

Jeff managed a smile. "I know." He gave Becky a kiss.

"I'll make sure that Ralph doesn't trip over her crutches on her way back to her place," Kyle said. "You two look like you need some alone time."

"Thanks, man," Jeff said.

"No problem," Kyle said. He and Ralph left.

"I can't stand the fucker," Becky said. "This truce better last. I can only imagine the bloodshed that's gonna happen if it doesn't. Too many people here don't like him for there to be little or no fireworks."

"I need to be the better guy. I need to be the better guy," Jeff said to himself.

"Jeff, you are the better guy," Becky said. "You are so much better than him. You were the one who extended the peace offering to him. He didn't extend it to you. I'm proud of you."

Jeff grinned. "Thanks, Becky."

"You're welcome," Becky said. They kissed and walked after Kyle and Ralph.

TBC

Notes: Again, a lot of thanks to hphotshot5 and angelofdarkness78 for their reviews and support :) It means so much to me.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"Okay, now let me hear it again just to be sure," Sasha said to Rena as they stood together in the middle of the safehouse that the transgenics had set up outside of Terminal City.

"Hear what? This?" Rena said with a Russian accent.

"Perfect," Sasha said. "You picked that up pretty quickly."

"I've never had to fake a Russian accent before," Rena said. "They were only starting me on the accent lessons by the time that I left Manticore because I guess for the missions that they would send an 11-year-old on, faking a foreign accent isn't something of the highest priority. I can do a pretty good French accent, though." She grinned. "When I was in my foster home in Texas, I went to school. It kind of boring since I knew more than all the teachers put together. When I was in eighth grade, I had this French teacher who actually was from France and she had to be the most annoying person I have ever known and I would get a lot of practice using my fake French accent because I would make fun of her behind her back to my friends in the class all of the time." She laughed.

Sasha smiled. "I think I must have met one of her relatives when I went over to France with a few of my unit mates for a mission when I was fourteen."

"Nice," Rena said, laughing.

"Yeah," Sasha said. She ran a hand through her hair, which along with Rena's hair, was dyed light brown. The two of them also wore colored contact lenses. "It's almost time to go. Just our luck our potential supplier's flavor of the month is hot Russian twins, huh?"

"I guess we know what the theme is of this month's issue of Penthouse is, huh?" Rena deadpanned.

"How did you turn out to be such a cynical bitch?" Sasha teased.

"Only from about twelve years spent mostly by myself on the run from the secret government facility where I spent the first eleven plus years of my life," Rena said. "What about you?"

"I spent the first twenty-three years of my life in an almost identical secret government facility," Sasha replied. She checked her watch. "Time to go."

"This should be interesting at worst and fun at best," Rena remarked as they left the safehouse and hailed a cab. They each put on a pair of sunglasses and sat in the back of the cab ignored the mindless chatter of the cab driver until they finally reached their destination, a classy nightclub in the upper-class sector of the city. They paid the cab driver and got out and walked inside and stood there for a moment, looking for their contact. Rena spotted him first and they silently approached the table. He stood as they approached. "Ah, you must be the representatives that Mr. Lang sent."

"That we are," Sasha said with her fake Russian accent.

"You must be Mr. Browning," Rena said, also using the accent.

"I most certainly am," Mr. Browning said. He grinned. "And what are your names?"

Rena held out her hand and smiled charmingly. "Irina."

Sasha mimicked her twin perfectly. "Alexandra."

"Charmed," Mr. Browning said. He kissed each of them on their hand and motioned for them to sit, which they did. "Would either of you ladies care for a drink?"

"No, thank you," Rena said politely. "We like to have clear heads when we do business."

"Of course," Mr. Browning said. "I understand."

"Now, Mr. Browning," Sasha said. "Mr. Lang has need of these supplies that you have to offer. Let me see if I have everything down correctly." She took out a small folded piece of paper from a pocket of her business suit and unfolded it, even though both she and Rena had the contents of the list memorized, and listed the items on it. "…electrical generators. Unless we all are mistaken, this is what we were told that you have available."

"It still is," Mr. Browning assured them. "Now, about the payment. Your boss and I discussed over the phone a total sum of 100,000 for these supplies. That is quite a bargain considering the variety and the value of what I am offering."

"Of course it is," Rena said, nodding. She took the small briefcase that she had been carrying and set it on the table. "20,000 is in this case. You will receive the other 80,000 when the delivery is made and no sooner." She took a business card from her own suit and placed it on top of the briefcase. "On the card is the address where we would like the delivery to be made as well as the time at which we would like the delivery to be made. Please try not to be late."

"I always guarantee promptness," Mr. Browning assured them. "The time and place for the delivery are acceptable to me. I will pull up with a truck and we can begin the unloading of the supplies once you have given me the rest of the money."

"With all due respect, Mr. Browning, we will begin the unloading of the supplies as soon as your people arrive at the destination and we will pay you the remainder of the amount after the supplies have been transferred," Sasha said. She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something else, but something caught her eye and she stopped.

"It's standard procedure for Mr. Lang's business operations," Rena said smoothly. She discreetly looked over at Mr. Browning. _Phew, he didn't notice a thing. What could have spooked Sasha?_ "Don't you worry, Mr. Browning. Our boss has never had a problem before. We expect everything to go as smoothly as silk. Don't you?"

"Of course I do," Mr. Browning said. The three of them stood up and he kissed Rena's and Sasha's hands again. "Irina, Alexandra, it was a pleasure to meet you lovely ladies. Do go over to the bar and try the martinis. They are nothing short of spectacular here."

"It was a pleasure for us as well," Rena said. "We might just do that." With a nod, she and Sasha left. She looked around before she turned to Sasha. "What the hell was going on?" she hissed, dropping the accent. "What spooked you?"

Sasha took a deep breath. "Look to your right, really carefully. Guy about our age. 5'10", dark hair, black suit and red tie."

"Okay," Rena said slowly. She discreetly looked to her right and saw the guy that Sasha had mentioned. "He's really hot. What's so…" Something clicked in her mind and she blinked. "511?"

"Yeah," Sasha said. "Crap, Mr. Browning is still here and we can't blow our cover." She sounded close to tears.

"Don't you worry," Rena said. "He did suggest that we go to the bar for martinis, right? Why don't we do that and if we happen to bump into 511, then ooops." She grinned.

"Okay," Sasha said. She took a deep breath and she and Rena sauntered over to the bar and they each ordered a martini. Rena stayed closer to the bar and casually looked around while Sasha walked over to 511 and tapped him on the shoulder. "Pardon me, sir, but you look like you could use some company."

511 turned around at the voice and blinked. "121? Is that you?"

"Yeah," Sasha said, grinning. "I'd—"

"You're meeting a contact and you don't want him to suspect too much," 511 said. "No problem. I understand, especially after we came this close to blowing that mission in Mexico because we wanted to sneak off for some alone time."

"Thank goodness Alec covered for us," Sasha agreed.

511 frowned. "Alec?"

"494," Sasha clarified. "My name is Sasha and my twin Rena is over there by the bar. Please tell me that you have a name."

"So you know what to shout out when we're in bed?" 511 said, grinning. "It's Biggs."

"Biggs?" Sasha repeated. She thought about it and shrugged. "Not bad."

"Thanks, sweetheart," he said. "So…you did have the twins with 591?"

"He wasn't there when I gave birth, but yeah," Sasha said. "Jade and Julia. They're so beautiful. I haven't seen 591 yet in Terminal City and I'm happy. I never liked the guy that much. How about you, Biggs? Have you seen 849 around yet?"

"Nope, I haven't," Biggs said. "I don't know if she made it out and I don't know if the baby is okay, assuming the 849 did make it out." He saw the look on Sasha's face. "That was screwed up of Renfro, wasn't it?"

"I know, how could Renfro possibly have known that 849 was one of only two people outside of you and Alec that I was good friends with," Sasha said. She sighed. "I haven't seen her or 228 yet. Lucky 228 not getting assigned to the breeding program. Why couldn't I have been on an assignment when the DNA lab was blown up and only had gotten back to Manticore twelve hours before it burnt to a crisp like she had been?" They both paused when they heard Rena whistle just loud enough for them to hear. "I've got to get going. When you're done here, Terminal City by the west gate. There's the fewest humans hanging around that gate."

"I'll be there as soon," Biggs promised. He grinned. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Sasha said. She grinned and followed Rena out of the club and down the block. "I can't believe he's here! He's finally here!"

"Down, girl," Rena teased. She raised her arm and a cab pulled up to them and they got in. "I can get Alec to help me strap you down until Biggs gets to Terminal City later tonight."

"I can also get Max to lock you and Zane together in a room for a few hours," Sasha said.

"You're evil," Rena said.

"Takes one to know one, sis," Sasha pointed out.

"Very true," Rena admitted.

TBC

Notes: Thanks again to hphotshot5 and angelofdarkness78 for their reviews and support! angelofdarkness78, there will be more Max/Zack coming up in the next part. Thanks again!


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Notes: Just as a precaution, I want to let you know that there's a little bit more swearing in this part than normal.

"Stupid stains on sink…get off…" Max grunted as she tried to scrub her kitchen sink. She squirmed uncomfortably. "I said for you to get off…" She trailed off again and squirmed and wiped her forehead. "Damn, I think I need a break." She dropped her sponge and opened the refrigerator and took out a pitcher of water and poured herself a glass. "Much better." She heard her cell phone ring and put her glass down on the counter and ran over to the phone and picked it up and answered it. "Yeah, what is it?"

"Relax, Max, it's just me," Becky said. She sounded a little amused. "What got your underwear in a twist?"

"I don't know, it's just one of those days," Max said. "Where are you and where the hell is your brother?"

"I just finished pulling sentry duty by the main gate and I'm about to head back to my place and as far as I know, Zack is still working with Zane and those two X4s on fixing up the upper floors of the med bay building so we can turn the whole damn thing into something that passes for a real hospital," Becky said. "Are you sure that you're okay, Max? You sound pretty irritable."

"Can you point out any day when I don't sound irritable at least once?" Max said. She and Becky laughed. "Don't worry. I'm really okay. I appreciate the concern."

"No problem," Becky said. "I was thinking about going down to the cafeteria and maybe eating dinner there for once instead of in my apartment. I think the microwave in my kitchen isn't working right, anyway. Maggie swears that it's fine but I don't think the sides of the damn thing are supposed to feel hot when you're using it."

Max bit her lip to stifle a moan. "That doesn't sound too good to me, either."

"Max, are you really sure that you're fine?" Becky asked.

"Holy crap, I'm fine," Max insisted. "Look, go get some food and maybe after dinner we can start planning a few raids."

"Okay," Becky said. "If you say so. I'll see you later."

"See you later," Max said. She disconnected and threw her phone back down on the kitchen counter and wiped her sweat-soaked forehead again. "It's warm, even for Seattle in April. Either that or some X7 without a clue tried to help with the air conditioning and instead…" Her eyes widened and she smacked herself in the forehead. "Damnit!"

* * *

Becky disconnected and put her phone back in her jeans pocket as she walked off towards the cafeteria. _Max doesn't usually sound that irritable. What is going on with her? Oh well, who knows. I've been friends with Max for almost ten months now and I can't figure her out all of the time. I guess this is one of those times._

"Hey, Becky," a cheerful voice said.

"Hey, Riley," Becky said. "Where are you coming from?"

"Babysitting duty over in the nursery," Riley said. "There's nothing scarier than watching over a few X9s that are going through their 'terrible twos.' They seriously should have used that in Psy Ops back when Manticore was still around. That would have adjusted a few people's attitudes in a hurry."

"Ouch," Becky said. "Have you seen Jeff?"

"No," Riley said. "I think he's still out doing recon for a job with Biggs and Alec. You should have seen how happy he was that he was going to be pulling a job with his two idols from Manticore."

"I did," Becky said. She grinned. "He came to see me after Biggs and Alec asked him to do the job with them. He looked like a little kid in a candy store."

"If you thought that was bad, you should have been around him when he got assigned to do a mission with those two," Riley said. "It was right after he'd gotten cleared for solo ops, so it was back in October of '19. They had to go take out a naval base up in Alaska and they were gone for two weeks but for a week before then, it seemed like all I heard from Jeff when we were off duty was 'They selected me to go on a mission with 494 and 511!' and 'I can't believe that they chose me to go on a mission with the two top X5s from our facility' and on and on and on…and then for a week after they got back he wouldn't shut up about how awesome the mission went and how cool it was to work with them and I almost punched him so many times."

"Hey, let the guy have his hero worship," Becky said. "I had mine."

"It's weird how you didn't know that Zack was your brother back then and yet you still hero-worshipped them and you never stopped looking up to him and the rest of their family even after they left like 99 of Manticore did," Riley said.

"Yeah," Becky said. "I'm gonna grab some food in the cafeteria tonight."

"I was gonna head that way myself," Riley said. She snickered. "Christian ended up with kitchen duty tonight and I just want to point and laugh at the sight of him in an apron and a hairnet."

"Ouch," Becky said. She also laughed. "That sounds like fun." She and Riley suddenly paused and looked over in the direction of the buildings where most of the transgenics that were old enough had apartments. "I think Zack's back. It sounds like he's in a hurry to get back to Max."

Riley shrugged. "So let him go back to Max so they can have alone time. You can always go say hi to him later."

"True. I could always—oh, shit!" Becky said. "That's why Max was so irritable when I talked to her on the phone just a few minutes ago." She gave Riley a look and they both bolted for Max and Zack's apartment.

* * *

Max paced around her living room. "Okay…I'm in heat…please don't let Zack come near me right now…don't want kids right now…just keep on telling yourself that...keep reminding yourself of that…you don't want kids…little babies are a no-no right now…" She continued to pace and wring her hands and jumped in surprise when the front door was thrown open. "Oh crap, Zack, not right now, not right now."

"Yeah…" Zack said slowly. Then he blurred over to Max and kissed her hard. Max felt any chances she had of forming a coherent thought leave her as she returned the kiss and somehow managed to take Zack's leather jacket off of him as he practically flew into their bedroom with her in his arm. He dropped Max onto the bed and reached to remove his shirt when a blur knocked him down. A split second later, Max felt herself being restrained by somebody. She tried desperately to wriggle free, but whoever was holding her was too strong to release her.

"Damnit, Max, don't make me knock you out," Riley grunted.

"Let me go, you bitch!" Max screamed.

"Nope," Riley said.

Meanwhile, Becky was almost surprised to find herself having a hard time trying to restrain Zack. "Stop it right the hell now, Zack!"

"No fucking way," Zack snapped. He swung and connected hard with Becky's left eye.

"You fucker!" she screamed. She reflexively grabbed her eye, only to barely manage to catch Zack as he tried to take advantage of her distraction and get back to Max. "That's it. So much for trying to be nice and not hurt you." She hit Zack in the ribs, but it didn't seem to slow Zack down much at all.

"Don't you dare keep me from her," he yelled. He kicked out and connected with Becky's right leg.

Becky screamed when she felt and heard the snap. "That's it, you bastard!" She swung out at him hard and connected with his head. Zack went down and Becky collapsed to the floor, trying to catch her breath.

"What did you do, you worthless little bitch!" Max shrieked.

"Riley, please get her into a cold shower," Becky gasped.

"Will do," Riley said. She dragged Max into the bathroom, turned on the cold water, and tossed Max in with her clothes on. "Happy shower, Max."

"Damn you," Max swore.

"I know, I know," Riley said. She walked back into the bedroom. "Are you okay?"

"I need to see if they've got a steak in the fridge because my eye feels like it's swelling up quicker than Kevin on roast beef night back at Manticore," Becky said. "I need to get some ice for my leg, too."

Riley took a look at Becky's leg and blinked. "Becky, I might not be the field med in my family, but that bone looks like it's just about broken in two. I think you need more than an ice pack for it."

"Are you kidding me?" Becky said. She looked down at her leg. "Crap."

"What's going on in here?" Syl asked. She and Jace and Jondy entered the bedroom and stopped short. "Holy shit, what happened in here? Where's Max?"

"I'm here in this freezing cold shower that Riley so nicely threw me into fully clothed," Max snapped.

"Oh brother," Jace said. "I think Max went into heat and Becky and Riley broke it up before they could finish it. Becky, I would have thought that you would have learned your lesson about trying to restrain a male X5 who was about to mate with a female who was in heat without any help."

"There wasn't enough time to think about that," Becky said with a shrug. "Somebody had to keep Max back while I tried to restrain Zack." She saw the confused looks that Syl and Jondy had. "When a male X5 is stopped from mating with a female who's in heat, his instincts are telling him like crazy to get back to the female and to let nothing stop him from doing that. The adrenaline rush that results actually makes him as strong as someone like me or Riley so even if it's someone with our skill level, you still need more than one of us. They learned that only a few weeks before Zack turned himself in to Manticore for Max. Two X5s, they happened to be from the unit that Jace was re-assigned to so that's why she knows about this incident because she saw at least part of it happen, were trying to mate with each other outside while they were running a training mission. I was in the woods with my family as well running my own exercise and I happened to be the closest to them, so I get radioed by a trainer ordering me to restrain the male and one of the other girls in that unit restrained the female. They figured that I could handle the guy on my own. I did, sort of. I ended up in surgery because the prick elbowed me in the face and broke my cheekbone and almost broke my wrist, but I managed to restrain him until Jace and the rest of the girls in that unit arrived and took over keeping the guy down."

"Nasty," Jondy said. She sighed. "Who gets to carry big brother's sorry ass over to the med bay?"

"I'll do it," Jace said. She picked Zack up and slung him over her shoulder as easily as if he was Little Max.

"Max, do you want somebody to stay here with you?" Jondy asked.

"No, I think I'll be okay," Max said. She sounded a little more subdued. "I'll just bolt the door shut when you guys leave."

"Okay," Syl said. She and Riley helped Becky up off of the floor and out of the apartment. Jace followed them with Zack and Jondy left the apartment last, shutting the door behind her.

Max turned off the water and climbed out and walked over to the door and made sure that it was locked. She slid down until she was sitting on the floor and sighed. _Great. Another mess caused by my Heat. Just wonderful. Because of my stupid pheromones, Zack and Becky are in med bay. Nice going._ She shook her head and got up and went into her bedroom to see if there was a mess for her to clean up.

TBC

More notes: A lot of thanks to hphotshot5 and angelofdarkness78 for their continued support! hphotshot5, this particular chapter was inspired by the review that you left for the previous chapter, so extra thanks to you :) I'm also going to stick with an eventual Brin/Alec pairing for this, but I was thinking about maybe writing a Max/Alec fic at some point in the future. Keep your eyes peeled! Thanks again :)


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"I've almost got it," Becky said as she typed away at a computer in the control room in Terminal City. "How does this look?"

Dix looked over her shoulder. "Not bad. It just needs another line of the code." He continued to monitor Becky's progress. "Yeah, that's it. You're not too bad at this programming stuff."

"I had to pass my programming and hacking classes before I got cleared for solo ops and was deemed fully trained," Becky said. She shrugged. "I'd rather be out on sentry duty or sparring in the gym but I got the damn pins taken out of my leg yesterday afternoon and the guy who took them out told me that I have to be on crutches until tomorrow."

Zack, who'd also been standing behind Becky, winced. "Sorry."

"Zack, it's been two weeks since Max went into heat," Becky said. "I accepted your apology when you first made it when we were stuck in med bay. It's fine."

Zack nodded. "You're lucky that you're this good at programming. I'm okay, but I don't like it that much and I haven't had as much training in this area as you have."

"I never said I liked it either," Becky said. "Xavier is much better at it than I am, and I've got a few years of training on him." She clicked with her mouse and grinned. "This security system is a great idea."

"It's a good thing that Max grabbed the database when Manticore burned and let us copy it or we'd never be able to get this off the ground," Luke agreed from his own computer. "Okay, all transgenic security cameras are back online and running smoothly. I'd say they're running better than they were before." He spoke into the headset that he was wearing. "We're ready for testing. Biggs, Jondy, May, Lake, are you guys ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Biggs said. He stood in front of main gate in Terminal City, apparently blending in with the people that were standing around, gawking or protesting.

"Sure," Jondy said. She stood near the west gate.

"Absolutely," May, an X6, said. She stood near the south gate.

"I'm good," Lake, an X3, said. He stood near the east gate.

Luke entered a command into the computer, activating the security system. Almost immediately, his monitor split into four windows, each one with a picture of one of the transgenics outside and a short blurb of information. He grinned. "Good work, you guys. The system is running great. You can come back when you're ready."

"Nah, I think I'll see if I can get laid with one of these bozos," Jondy said sarcastically. "The guy over here holding the 'transgenics are evil' sign looks pretty cute."

"Jondy," Zack warned.

"I was kidding," Jondy said. "I'm heading in now."

Zack sighed. "Good. I'll see you in a few minutes." He looked over at the clock on the wall. "I'm going to head over to the gym. Becky, do you want to come with me?"

"Yeah, sure," Becky said. "I can still do some upper body work. Do you guys need me here?"

"Nah, you can go," Dix said.

"Thanks," Becky said. She got up and she and Zack left the control room and the building and headed over towards the gym. "It's a nice day out today."

"Yeah," Zack said. "The crowds aren't too bad outside today. It's nice to see that they're finding better outdoor activities to participate in today than to stand outside of the fence and annoy us."

"There's barely any military outside, too," Becky said. "It's a good thing that none of those morons can stay in here for too long without eventually needing a radiation suit. If things stay like this, we'll be pretty set up. I don't think things will stay like this, but even I dream sometimes."

"So do I," Zack said. He saw the look on Becky's face and felt concerned. "Are you okay, Becky?"

"Yeah, I guess," Becky said. "I'm just missing the rest of my family. The other half of us hasn't gotten to Terminal City yet and I don't have any contact with them. It's driving me crazy. I have every confidence in the world that they can stay underneath White's fucked up radar and stay safe or at least know how to get themselves out of trouble, but I just wish that there was a way that I could get out there and find them." She laughed bitterly. "Yeah, I could go out and find them. I could ride around the country at night when people are less likely to be out and the shield on my motorcycle helmet hides my face so the chances of people recognizing me are minimized. I'll find them eventually and if they happen to turn up at Terminal City when I'm out looking for them, I'd only be a phone call away. What's to stop me from going out and doing that? It's not like I wasn't hiding my identity before that whole hostage bullshit. Instead of going out there and finding the rest of my family, I'm hiding here like a selfish little brat who only thinks of herself."

"Becky, you are anything but selfish," Zack said. "You know how dangerous it is even for you to be out there away from Terminal City for that long now that you are exposed as a transgenic. By staying here, you are minimizing the chances that White will pull not only you in, but your other siblings if you do go out and look for and find them. You're still protecting them. Besides, how much do you want to bet that White has thought of that situation?"

Becky nodded. "You're right. I'm just feeling a little down today."

"We're all entitled to our bad days," Zack said. "It's nothing to be ashamed about."

The two of them sat down on the steps of the building across the street from the gym. "Speaking of finding siblings, how long did it take you to find yours?" Becky asked.

"Anywhere from months to years," Zack admitted. "Max was the first one that I found. I found her six months after the escape when she was living near Las Vegas, but you know how long it was before I actually made contact with her. I found Rena and Zane just over a month later in New Jersey. I found Brin another eight months after that in Oregon and she told me that she and Elle had to split up the night of the escape. It was another year after I found Brin that I found Tinga and Wayne down in Florida. I found Jondy in Santa Monica only a month later but then it was another ten months before I found Krit and Syl in Chicago. Ben and Reese were the last two that I found and I found them about two years after I found Krit and Syl. Max convinced Jace to break free of Manticore and I never found Elle and Parker and Kenny and it wasn't until the night that we found out about the two of us being physically related that I found out that the three of them had died."

"I hope that it doesn't take me that long to find 367, 029, 570, 144, and 887," Becky said.

"It won't," Zack said. "They'll find their way here soon. Trust me."

"I will," Becky said. "I always trust you." She smiled. "Thank you, Zack."

"You're welcome, baby sister," Zack said. "Do you want to go see me beat the hell out of somebody now?"

"That sounds like fun," Becky said, laughing. They got up off of the steps and headed into the gym.

TBC

Notes: Once again, lots of thanks to angelofdarkness78 and hphotshot5 for their reviews and support! There will be more Max/Zack action coming up soon and Joshua will finally be making an appearance as well. I hope you haven't forgotten about White and the Familiars…Oh, and I was visiting the internet movie database and I happened to come across an actress who comes pretty close to what my mental image of what Becky looks like. I put the link to the actress' profile on the imdb on my site (which is under extremely massive construction). Just click on the homepage link in my profile and then click on the link marked 'links' and then copy and paste the link that's there (I'm having trouble with the html for non-geocities links).


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

White sat quietly at his desk, completely engrossed in his paperwork. He jumped a little when he heard his cell phone rang. He shook his head and picked it up and flipped it open and looked at the number and answered it. "Fenos'tol."

"Fenos'tol, Brother White," the woman said. "The Conclave has need of your services."

"Are we finally making a move on the transgenics?" White asked.

The woman laughed. "Your eagerness is more than welcome, but unfortunately we can not make a major move against them yet, at least not in the way that you would like for us to do. You know the timetable that we are on."

"I do," White admitted. "What would the Conclave like to be done?"

"We just want to remind the transgenics about our presence," the woman said. "It has been two months since the hostage situation with 599, 405, and 941. We do not want the filth to become too complacent."

"Of course not," White agreed. "Is there something specific that the Conclave would like?"

"Just something that says 'hello, remember us,'" the woman said. "Something that will be hard to forget, but not too spectacular. If a few of the animals should happen to die, so much the better for us. If 452 dies, even better, but you are under direct orders from the Conclave not to target 452 specifically. I hope this won't be a problem, Brother White."

"It shouldn't be," White said. He sighed in annoyance.

"Don't worry, Brother White," the woman said. "Patience is a virtue and 452 will meet her end soon enough, as will all of the other transgenic animals. It's a goal worth waiting for, wouldn't you agree?"

"Of course I would," White said immediately.

"I knew you would," the woman said. "Call me back when you have a plan set. I look forward to hearing from you again. Fenos'tol."

"Fenos'tol," White replied. He disconnected the phone and set it aside and looked again at his work, but his thoughts were occupied by the instructions that he had just been given by the Conclave. _Damn, I wish that they'd let me go after 452. She's right, the death of that 'perfect' little bitch will be worth waiting for, but I still wish that I didn't have to wait for it._ He sighed and pushed his work aside and turned on the TV in his office and turned towards his computer. There was a knock on his office door. "Come in."

"Agent White?" an assistant said, sticking his head in the doorway. "Your wife is on line 1."

"Thank you," White said. He picked up the phone on his desk and hit a button. "Hey, sweetheart. How are you? How's Junior?"

"We're both fine," Wendy said, laughing. "We've still got to discuss that Junior thing. I'm not sure that I want our son to be a junior. He should be his own person."

"He will be," White said. "But at least let me dream awhile, okay?"

"Of course," Wendy said. "Listen, baby, I know that you're not going to like this but I thought that I should call you now so that you wouldn't be surprised and possibly hit the roof when you get home from the office, but my mother's over at our house and she needs a place to stay for the week while they fumigate her apartment building. I know what you're going to stay and yes, she did ask my sister first if she could stay with her, but John surprised Alison with a trip to Barbados and they're leaving early tomorrow morning. You aren't too mad that my mother will be staying with us, are you?"

"Of course not," White said. "She's my mother-in-law. I'm obligated to be annoyed by her." He smiled when he heard Wendy laugh. "She's family and I'm not going to leave her in the lurch. It's fine. I hope you don't mind the fact that I'll be pulling late nighters at the office for the next week…"

"Very funny," Wendy said. "Even with my mother here, you'll be tearing out of that office like you have a rocket chasing you to get home to me."

"You know it," White said. "If you make a nice rare ribeye for me tonight, I will not say one bad thing about your mother within your presence."

"What a coincidence, I just happened to be at the supermarket standing in front of the steaks as we speak," Wendy said. "And guess what I happen to have in my hand that I'm about to drop in my shopping cart?"

"I love you," White said.

"I love you too, sweetie," Wendy said. "I need to get going and finish the shopping and get home before my mother redecorates the house. I'll see you when you get home from work."

"I'll see you then," White promised. He hung up the phone and turned back to the computer. _Yeah, like…_ He sat up straighter and picked up his cell phone and dialed a number. "Fenos'tol. I need your help, Sister…"

TBC

Notes: I'm sorry this part is so short! Thanks again to angelofdarkness78 and hphotshot5 for their reviews and support! angelofdarkness78, the Max/Zack action will be coming up again really soon :)


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"I hate this crap," Riley grumbled as she sifted through debris in a room in a building in Terminal City. "I wish this building wasn't at as good of a vantage point for the surrounding area so that cleaning it up wasn't as critical."

Max laughed. "You were at Manticore longer than I was. You should know better than I do that sometimes even we have to do grunt work."

"I tried to avoid the grunt work as much as possible," Riley said.

"Wow, I didn't know that it was possible to have a spoiled brat in Manticore," Rena said in mock surprise. "Did you know that, Sasha?"

"Very funny," Riley said.

"I'm just kidding," Rena said. "I know you are far from spoiled."

"You want to talk about spoiled brats, try hanging around my old unit mate 714," Sasha said. "Wow. I have never met a more prissy, spoiled little bitch in my life. I can only imagine what it must have been like for her poor breeding partner when they were paired up in May. 'Don't do that, 003. You'll mess up my hair.' '003, how many times have I told you that I…'" She trailed off and smirked when she saw Riley and Max and Rena laughing. "Yeah, and guess who had to share a hotel room with her and the Queen Skank Whore and 908 when we were assigned to go on a mission to France when I was fourteen?"

Riley's jaw dropped. "They actually had you four share a room? What was Renfro smoking?"

"Details, s'il vous plait?" Rena asked.

"Yeah, this sounds good," Max said.

"What's to say? I've told you Diane's deal and I just told you what was 714's problem and 908 was also severely screwed up," Sasha said. "Maybe even the worse in our unit."

"Maybe even the worse in your unit?" Riley said. "If what I've heard through the Manticore grapevine was true, 908 was severely fucked in the head."

"It's true," Sasha said. "I could go on and on about it—"

"Please don't, I saw the whole damn thing and I don't feel like listening to the story," Biggs' voice interrupted.

Max rolled her eyes and put a hand to the earpiece that she was wearing. "For crying out loud, Biggs, were you listening to our whole conversation? Didn't anybody tell you when you were a child that eavesdropping is rude as hell?"

"Nope, sorry," Biggs said cheerfully.

"Do that again and somebody won't be—" Sasha started to say teasingly.

Biggs quickly cut her off. "Okay, Sasha. I'm sorry. I won't eavesdrop on your girls again."

"You've really got him by the balls, don't you?" Rena said. She sounded impressed.

"You know it, sis," Sasha said proudly.

"Please behave," Zack said as he entered the floor. "Max, our shift's up. We've got enough time to get back to our apartment and shower before we need to go over those plans for the bank job that we're going to pull tonight."

Max looked at her watch. "Damn, you're right. I'll see you guys later."

"See you later, Maxie," Rena said. "Sasha, do you want to start on the crap that's one floor up?"

"Sure," Sasha said. "I think I'm at a good stopping place on this floor."

"And leave me to continue with this crap heap all by myself? Your generosity knows no bounds," Riley said sarcastically.

"Don't worry," Max said. "There should be two people coming in to replace me and Zack any minute now. If one of them doesn't help you, just beat the crap out of them."

Riley perked up. "Yeah, that sounds like fun. Thanks."

"Don't encourage her," Sasha teased as she and Rena headed for the stairs and walked up to the next floor.

"Very funny," Max said. She followed Zack to the stairs and they walked down them until they got to the ground floor and out of the building, pausing for a moment to wave at the X5 and the anomaly that walked in to replace them on cleanup duty. "So, we've got about an hour-and-a-half. That should also give us enough time to have something to eat before we go over our plans instead of eating while we go over our plans, even with us showering separately."

Zack leaned close to her ear and lowered his voice. "Who said anything about us showering separately?"

Max grinned. "Beats me." They started heading a little quicker towards their apartment.

* * *

"And they go merrily on their way," Sasha said as she watched Max and Zack leave from the window of the room she and Rena were in.

"They'll be a lot more than just merry when they actually get to their apartment," Rena said, snickering.

"Thanks for that one, Captain Obvious," Sasha teased. She turned around and surveyed the room. "Damn, just this one room is going to take forever to clean up. I hope more of us show up here soon if for no other reason than to help us clean up this crap."

"You and me both," Rena said. She walked over to the large hole that was in the wall. "What is this crap, some idiot was in the process of doing some do-it-yourself remodeling when another random idiot spilled all that toxic material in the area? I could do a better job than this and I've never done construction before."

"Hey, at this rate you could be doing it soon," Sasha remarked.

"Now who's Captain Obvious?" Rena teased.

"Thank you very much, _little_ sister," Sasha said.

"Little sister? We're twins for crying out loud," Rena said.

"I'm still older," Sasha said.

"By two freakin' minutes," Rena said. "I was supposed to be older. Hell, I was supposed to just be me. Mother Nature was obviously in a bad mood when they implanted my embryo into our surrogate way back when in Wyoming because look who decided to join the party!"

"She must have been in a worse mood when she had the geneticists put together your embryo in the first place," Sasha said sweetly.

* * *

Biggs sat on the roof, struggling with the surveillance system that he was supposed to be setting up. He sighed and put down his tools and turned his earpiece mic on and started to say something when he heard Rena's and Sasha's voices arguing.

"—look who decided to join the party!"

"She must have been in a worse mood when she had the geneticists put together your embryo in the first place."

"Sweetheart, next time you talk into your comm. device, don't forget to turn the mic off when you're done," Biggs said, trying to hold in his laughter.

Sasha swore. "Damn. Hey, what did I tell you about eavesdropping?"

"I wasn't eavesdropping on purpose," Biggs said. "I was about to call back into control that I was having problems with getting the damn surveillance system up and running and you happened to have your mic still on. That isn't my fault, is it?"

"I'm going to step through the hole in the wall and clean up in the hallway while you two have your argument," Rena said.

"I'm sorry, Sasha," Biggs said. "I didn't mean to snap at you."

"It's okay," Sasha said. "Even the best of couples have their arguments. I should get back to work and this time I promise to turn the mic off when I'm not using it."

Biggs laughed. "I love you."

"I love you too," Sasha replied.

Biggs grinned and decided to give the surveillance system another try. He reached for one of his tools when something caught his eye and he turned in that direction. Next to the building that he and the others were working on was the west security fence and then a side street and then a building that had recently been leveled. Next to the leveled building was a building that was several stories smaller than the one where Biggs was, which was where he'd seen the movement. _Someone was there. I know that I saw somebody._ "Control, this is Biggs. I saw movement on the roof of 122 West Maple. Do you copy?"

"We copy, Biggs," Dix said. "Do you have that surveillance system running yet?"

"No, I'm having trouble getting it going. I was going to radio in for help with it in another minutes if it still wasn't working," Biggs said. "Hey, Riley, your floor is level with the roof on 122 West Maple. Are you or anybody else near a window where you can get a good view of it?"

"Not right now, but Val and I can go and find one," Riley said.

"Do that. Just in case." He zoomed in on the roof in question and remained still for a few moments before his eyes widened. "RPG! Evacuate now!"

* * *

"Tell me again what you want to do with me when we get back to the apartment?" Max asked Zack. She smiled flirtatiously.

"You've got a photographic memory, but if you insist…" Zack said. "First, I'm going to get you to—" They stopped in their tracks and instinctively shielded their faces when they heard an explosion go off nearby. "What the hell?" He and Max quickly put their earpieces back in. "What the hell just happened?"

"Someone fired an RPG from the roof of 122 West Maple right at us," Biggs said frantically.

"Did you see exactly who fired it?" Max asked as she and Zack raced back towards the building.

"No," Biggs said. "All I could tell was that it was definitely a woman. I couldn't get a better visual on her." He heard Max and Zack approaching him at the same time he heard glass shatter and then someone landing from where they had jumped. He blurred over to the person. "Sasha? Baby, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sasha said. She coughed. "Me and…" She looked around and became frantic. "Where's Rena? She was behind me in the hallway when the RPG hit and…oh my God, Riley and Val were on the floor where it hit! Where are they? Are they all right!"

"Stay calm," Zack said. He tried to keep his own panic down. "Just stay calm, Sasha. I'm sure they're fine." He put a hand to his earpiece. "Rena, Riley, anybody in the building, this is Zack. Are you guys okay?" There was no answer. "Are you guys okay?" He turned when he heard the building's door open, but it was the anomaly. "Have you seen Rena or Riley or Val?"

"Those X5s and the X6? No," the anomaly said. He shook his head. "I was only on the third floor."

"Damnit, damnit, damnit," Zack swore. "Control, where the hell is some help here? We've got a fire going in 118 West Maple and there's three people still in the building, status unknown."

"Fire teams and med teams are on their way," Dix replied.

"What the hell…holy shit," Becky said as she and Jeff approached the scene. "What's going on?"

"RPG hit on the fifth floor," Max said. "We don't know exactly who fired it…" _But take a wild fucking guess who gave the order to fire it on us!_

Becky's expression darkened, as if she knew what Max was thinking. "Damn. Oh shit, are there people still in there?"

"Yeah," Biggs said grimly. He had his arm around a still-panicky Sasha. "Rena's trapped probably on the sixth floor and Val and…" He hesitated when he saw Jeff. "…Riley were as far as we knew on the fifth floor when it hit."

Jeff's face went white. "Oh shit, oh shit…"

"Calm down," Becky said. "As soon as the fire crew gets here, you can go in with them and get Riley out. I'm sure she's fine. Keep it together, Jeff. She'll be just fine." Jeff nodded and Becky gave his shoulder a squeeze. "It'll be okay."

"Yeah, it will be," Riley barely managed to say before coughing almost uncontrollably.

Jeff jumped and turned around and saw her standing in front of him, covered in soot and sighed in relief. "Damn, Riley, I thought that you might have died!"

"So did I for a second." Riley had to pause for another coughing fit. "I heard the RPG coming and I hit the deck and then I dove for the stairs and I barely made it before the damn thing hit the wall on the other side of the building and blew the hell up. That must have been one of the new models because that packed a huge punch. The fifth floor started to catch fire pretty quickly. I would have made it out sooner but I fell when the RPG hit and shook the building up a little and I hurt my ankle and that slowed me down and I wanted to try to get Val out but I couldn't." She started coughing again.

"Take it easy. Try to take deep breaths," Max said. "Do you know anything about Rena and Val? We haven't seen either of them yet."

"As far as I know, Rena was with Sasha one floor above me when the grenade hit," Riley said. She shook her head grimly. "Val was in one of the other rooms on the fifth floor closer to where the grenade hit. I didn't see her when I was getting out of the building and I like I said before, I tried to get her out of the building but I couldn't go for her because the heat from the fire was too intense for me to handle without the proper equipment and I ended up sucking down some smoke. Damn, I should have tried anyway."

"You definitely would have died," Jeff said, looking up at the fire.

"Damn, where the hell are the fire and medical teams?" Zack said, trying to keep his worry for Rena under control.

"Here they are," Becky said, seeing the vehicles screech to a stop and transgenics rush out.

"Is anybody still in there?" Zane asked as he and Krit and Wayne ran over to them, Zane and Krit tugging on the last of their equipment.

"Val, that X5 that came in two days ago, is still up on the fifth floor," Zack said. He took a deep breath. "Rena is up on the sixth floor. We haven't heard a peep from her yet."

"Oh my God," Wayne said.

Zane paled. "No…" He shook himself. "Let's get in there, guys."

"I'm going with you," Zack said immediately. Max sucked in a breath, but didn't say anything.

Zane threw Zack some equipment. "Good thing Krit trained you on this crap last week, huh?"

"Yeah," Zack said. "Who else is coming in and who is spraying from the outside?"

"You, me, Zane, Jay, Brian, and Dean are going in," Krit said. "The other guys are getting the hoses hooked up and ready to go. Wayne's in charge of the paramedic group that's waiting here."

"Get her out of there and I'll make sure that she'll be fine," Wayne said.

"Let's go," Zack said. He, Krit, Zane, and the other three disappeared inside of the building.

"Come on, come on," Wayne said, his eyes never leaving the building. "Come on, Rena. Come on, guys."

Becky bit her lip gripped Jeff's hand tightly. Max held on to Jondy, who had just arrived, with one hand, and ran her other hand through her hair nervously. Biggs held Sasha, who was still crying hysterically, and the others just watched as the transgenic firefighters got the fire under control. The minutes passed more painfully than any Psy Ops visit they had ever experienced until finally Zack and Zane emerged from the building with Rena in Zane's arms. She was unconscious, but appeared to be breathing. Wayne immediately ran over to Zane and took Rena from him and rushed her over to one of the ambulances and he and Maggie and one of the other medics got her loaded in and set up and they drove off to the med bay. Max and Becky rushed up to Zack and Zane.

"Thank goodness that you're okay," Max said, throwing her arms around Zack. "Did you guys find Val?"

Zack nodded grimly and gestured to where Krit and Brian were carrying a badly burned body over to one of the other ambulances and took off his equipment. "She was dead when they got to her. She's burned pretty much all over, but Jay said that it looked like a broken neck caused from the shockwave of the grenade exploding catching her and throwing her against a wall killed her. Damn." He removed the last piece and handed it over to one of the other firefighting transgenics and took a deep breath. "Come on. Let's get to the med bay and make sure that Rena's going to be fine."

TBC

Notes: A lot of thanks to angelofdarkness78 and darkangel494 for their reviews and support! Keep reading, because coming up is Joshua's first appearance, more Max/Zack action, more action with other pairings, and one nice, juicy twist :)


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Notes: Spoiler-ish stuff for "Designate This."

Max just stared out at the burned building as she sat in a room in the building next door. _Fourteen hours ago, I nearly lost a good friend and a sister and somebody who might have become a friend did die. It had to have been White behind it, it had to have been._ She turned around when she heard somebody behind her. "What are you doing here?"

"Probably the same reason that you're here," Jondy said. She walked over next to Max and they sat down on the floor. "The shark DNA is keeping me up and I'm still shaken by what happened this afternoon."

"You weren't the one who was in the building and on the fifth floor just minutes before the RPG was fired," Max pointed out.

"I know," Jondy said. "But Rena still almost died."

"I know," Max said. "I'm sorry."

"I know you are," Jondy said. "At least Rena's going to be 100 percent again in a week or so. She got lucky that Zack and Zane got to her before she could finish breathing in that second lungful of smoke."

"Yeah," Max said. "Too bad Val wasn't as lucky."

"Too bad," Jondy agreed. "I didn't even get a chance to meet her. You met her before, right?"

"Yeah, I was in the main building when she came here and I helped get her checked in with the guys and all of that," Max said. "She seemed nice enough. A little edgy because I'm an '09er, but she got over that pretty quickly. I think she could have been a pretty good friend if she had lived."

"If someone had lived…those words certainly have come up in our lives more than once, haven't they?" Jondy remarked.

"You're telling me," Max said. "I still think about who the others would have become and what they would look like now if they were still alive. Would Elle still be relatively short or would she have had a late growth spurt like she used to swear to us all the time would happen? Would Kenny have laughed at that movie because it seemed like what his sense of humor used to be or would he have grown out of stuff like that and hated it? Things like that."

"I know what you mean," Jondy said. "I think about things like that sometimes, too." She started to say something else, but she and Max abruptly turned around. They looked surprised. "What the…?"

"It's okay," the large, clearly canine-like man said. "Joshua didn't mean to startle you."

"Joshua?" Max said. "Is that your name?" The man nodded. "Cool. I'm Max and this is Jondy."

"You two are X5s," Joshua said. He sniffed. "You have cat…and a…what was that word that Father used?...dash of something else. Just barely enough for me to smell. Like other X5s, cat with a little something different, just barely enough for me to smell. In you two, something different is the same."

"We both have a little shark DNA in us," Max said. "Because of it, we don't sleep a lot. That's why we're here at almost four in the morning. What about you?"

"Joshua having trouble sleeping tonight," he said. "I like to wander around sometimes. I can wander around here more than at Manticore."

"You must have been in the basement with all the other anomalies," Jondy said. "That must have been hard for you. Max and I only passed through the basement a few times back in Wyoming before we escaped years ago and it scared us every time."

"It wasn't so bad," Joshua said. "They all liked me and respected me. I had to feed everybody sometimes because the people upstairs wouldn't feed them."

Max winced. "That must have been awful. Why wouldn't they feed you regularly?"

"Scared," Joshua said. "Scared not like you two, but…" He paused as he tried to find the right words to describe the guards. "…angry-scared. Like most of the people outside the fence here."

"Oh," Max said. "So, what are you supposed to be or should I say what were you supposed to be?"

"Joshua was first transgenic," he said proudly. "Father said I was supposed to be the prototype for the X1s, but they thought I didn't come out right. I don't even have a barcode."

"You're lucky about that," Jondy said. "We do. We can get it removed, but it always comes back."

"You got off lucky," Max said. "I read what happened with the X1s. The first official X1 was so screwed up it wasn't even born and after that, only ten more were born and they were all much worse off than you."

"That's what Father said," Joshua said. "Father said they didn't know a good thing when it was under their noses."

"I don't know who this Father guy is, but it sounds like he's right," Max said. "You sound like a cool guy, big fella."

"Little fellas cool, too," Joshua said. He cocked his head. "Little fellas sad about something? You look sad."

"Yeah," Jondy said. "We were thinking about the fire that happened next door earlier. We almost lost one of our sisters and another X5 died, plus three of our other friends and a guy who's like you were there but got out relatively okay. We're not exactly sure yet who did this or why they did this. We have ideas, but we're not completely certain yet."

"I wish I could help you," Joshua said. "But I was never trained like you were. Most of the upstairs people left me alone, except for Father before he left."

"Father…was he your real father?" Max asked.

"I don't know," Joshua said. "But since I can remember, he wanted me to call him Father, so I did. I think he created all of us or he started or wanted to create all of us."

"He founded Manticore?" Jondy guessed.

"Yeah, I think so," Joshua said. He yawned.

"Why don't you go and get some sleep, big guy," Max said. "Where are you staying?"

"In apartment in 330 Drake Avenue," Joshua said.

"Hey, that's the building where our apartments are," Max said. "We'll walk back together. After we drop him off, I'm going to make some coffee and bring it over to Zack and Zane and Wayne over in the med bay."

"You make it for Zack and Zane, and I'll make Wayne's coffee," Jondy said. "He likes that French Roast nut blend stuff that I do and everyone else can't stand."

"Sounds like a plan," Max said. "Ready to go back to your place, Joshua?"

"Sure," Joshua said. The three of them got up and left the building.

TBC

More notes: Thank you so much again, angelofdarkness78! Your reviews and support mean a lot!


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"How does the crowd look out there today?" Luke asked the transgenics on sentry duty a few days later.

"About the same as it's been since the fire," one of them replied. "They haven't gotten beyond what the local police and military units can handle."

"That's good," Luke said.

"Yet," Brin said from where she stood in the crowd outside.

"What do you mean?" Zack asked.

"I just overheard a phone conversation between the commander out here and his superior," Brin said. "They're going to send somebody out from the pentagon to take charge of the military forces outside of Terminal City."

"I'm flattered," Alec remarked. "We must really mean a lot to them if they're sending somebody from the pentagon itself to watch over us and make sure that we're safe in our beds."

Max smacked him across the head. "Did you catch any names?"

"No," Brin said. "The only information that I was able to pick up on was that it's someone from the pentagon, I believe a general. The good news is that not many, if any, additional forces are being sent along with him or her. Someone is being sent to serve as a second-in-command for the person, but I think that's it."

"Good to know," Luke said. He checked the time on the clock on his computer. "It's time for you to come back in, Brin. Dane is on his way to relieve you right now."

"I copy," Brin said. "I'm heading in. I'll see you at our apartment later, Alec. I'll pick up Anthony from Biggs and Sasha on my way back there."

"Gotcha," Alec said. "I'll see you later." He yawned.

"Not a night person?" Max teased.

"No, I just haven't gotten my minimum three hours of sleep yet," Alec said. "It's one-thirty in the morning and my shift here in control isn't over until two."

"You can hold out for half an hour, can't you?" Max said sweetly. "Maybe you can't, you did fall asleep on your feet that one time when you were in Alaska. I believe that you were talking with a young woman that you were hoping to get into your bed that night since you had off-hours then."

Alec looked annoyed. "Who told you that? Biggs or Jeff?"

"Since I actually like both of them, I'm not going to tell you who it was that told me about that," Max said. She shook her head and went back to the blueprints that she was looking at on the computer that she was sitting in front of. "I found something."

"Show me," Luke said.

"Right here," Max said. "Pacific Office Supply had their biggest shop here in Terminal City. It's that building with the crappy blue sign over near the gym. Their warehouse was over in sector 4 and they put in a tunnel that directly connects the store with the warehouse. The warehouse was officially shut down back in 2017 and it's been abandoned ever since. We've got our first non-sewer underground access to Terminal City."

"Brilliant," Luke said. "Dix is gonna be sorry that he didn't pick up on this before he went to catch some sleep. Oh, well, we all need to sleep sometime."

"Even me," Max agreed. "I got two hours last night, so I'm good for at least a week."

"Alec, hand me the highlighter?" Zack muttered as he looked over some plans.

"Sure, buddy," Alec said. He passed it over to Zack and then leaned over the table that they were sitting at so he could get a better look at the plans that they were going over. "Found a way into the place?"

"Yeah," Zack said. "If we…"

"Hold on a second there, boys," Luke interrupted. "Got a group of X6s coming in."

"How many?" Alec asked.

"Five of them," Luke said. "X6-367, X6-144, X6-887, X6-029, and X6-570. All of them from Becky's unit."

"Want to do the honors?" Max said to Zack. Zack grinned and took out his cell phone and speed dialed Becky and waited for her to answer.

* * *

Becky groaned when her cell phone's ringing woke her up. _I only got to sleep an hour ago. Is it too much to ask for another hour of sleep? I only sleep two hours a night to begin with!_ She grabbed the phone, saw who was calling, and answered it. "What's going on, Zack? Is something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Zack said. "As a matter of fact, the rest of your family just showed up. They're on their way over to the control room to check in now."

Becky sat up in bed and grinned. "Are you serious? All five of them? They're here?"

"All of the rest of your family," Zack said.

"I'll wake up Maggie and call the others and we'll be down there as soon as we can," Becky said. She disconnected and got up and quickly got dressed and ran into Maggie's room and shook her awake. "Maggie, get up right now."

"Becky, I swear this better be good," Maggie said.

"The others just got into T.C.," Becky said.

Maggie practically flew out of her bed. "Let me get dressed. I'll be ready in a second."

"Gotcha," Becky said. She went into the living room of the apartment and called the rest of her siblings. When Maggie was finished getting dressed, she and Becky left the apartment and ran over to the control room and stopped when they saw the five members of their family who had just arrived. "You're here!"

"405!" 367 squealed. She ran over to Becky and hugged her. "You're okay!"

"So are you," Becky said. "I see you're still bouncy as ever at this time of night."

"You can't cure shark DNA," 367 said.

"You've got a name now?" Becky asked.

"Karen," 367 said.

"I'm Brent," 570 said.

"Liesel," 029 said.

"Dalton," 887 said.

"Matt," 144 said.

"Becky," Becky said. She hugged the other four and stood and watched with a big grin on her face as the newly arrived siblings greeted Maggie and Kyle and Kevin and Xavier. She caught sight of Felicia standing in the corner, unsure of what to do, and motioned her over. "This is going to be really weird and it freaked the hell out of Maggie and I when we saw first saw her again, but…Lydecker lied to me nine years ago when 662 was executed for allegedly accidentally shooting that trainer. The execution was botched and they eventually took her to New York and I'll give you guys the entire story later, I really will, but...662 is alive and well." _No thanks to me, I damn near killed her that night._ She shook it off and gestured to Felicia. "Here she is."

Karen just stood there and stared at Felicia. "You've got to be kidding me. Why would Lydecker have lied about this?"

Becky and Felicia both stiffened. "Give me one good reason why I would be joking about something like this, Karen. If you want proof, you can take a look at her barcode. It's right there in nice black lines," Becky said. She tried to keep the anger and hurt out of her voice. _Karen always did believe in Manticore and had faith in Manticore the most out of any of us._ "As for why, he had this nice little research opportunity involving a computer chip that could be implanted into a human brain that fell into his lap and she just happened to be the perfect transgenic comatose at the time guinea pig. How did I know this? The information is in the Manticore database, which I had and still have access to, and was backed up by Lydecker himself. I don't know where he is right now because after he confirmed 662—Felicia's—situation, he went back off into hiding because the people in charge in the government want him dead as much as they want us dead."

"They actually used you like that when you were comatose?" Dalton said. "That's sick, even for Manticore."

"That was my reaction," Maggie agreed.

Karen blew them off. "They performed experiments like that all the time. What was so different about what they did to Felicia?"

"What was so different was that due to that implanted computer chip that I'd had in my brain and the fact that Manticore could treat me like a freaking robot with that thing, I ended up being put in a situation where I hurt and I could have easily killed Becky," Felicia said angrily. "You know damn well that I would never do that under normal circumstances! I forced Becky to damn near killed me and if Max hadn't done CPR on me, I would be dead. Becky brought me back to myself and I am damn thankful that she did and I know how much it cost her or it almost cost her to do that so stop acting like an uptight Manticore asshole!"

The others were surprised. Felicia had never gotten angry like that before. "Look, I'm sure that you guys have all had a long day," Kyle said quietly. "Why don't you get checked in and find places to stay and we can talk later."

"He's right," Becky said. "Even with all this, it's still really great to see you."

"It's great to see you again," Liesel said. She looked around. "Guys, where's 392?"

"She's dead," Becky said softly. "Back in July, she and Kevin and Maggie and two X5s got caught by the NSA agent who's in charge of hunting us down and killing us. I went in with Max and Zack and we got them free and we almost all got out the door unscathed but the agent had hidden behind cover and got a shot off at hit Suzanne and she died minutes later."

"I can't believe it," Matt said. "Suzanne, you said her name was? She's dead?"

Becky nodded. "I wish it wasn't true either, Matt, but she's dead."

"Why would they want us dead?" Karen said. "Isn't Manticore just regrouping? I mean, after something as major as Renfro betraying us I'd say they'd be touchy and would want to bide their time before bringing us back in, but why kill us?"

"Because Manticore is gone and done and over with," Becky said. "It wasn't just Renfro who betrayed us by burning Manticore down, it was the entire committee that was in charge of the project who wanted us dead and burnt to a crisp. They wanted us all dead. Manticore is over and good riddance because they put us through hell. Hey, if you believed in Manticore so much, why didn't you go up to a soldier and say 'I'm X6-367 and I'm ready to return to base'?"

"Because you ordered us to go to ground," Karen said.

Becky sighed. "Enough of this. We'll talk later. It really is great to see you guys."

"It's great to see you again," Karen agreed quietly. The others said goodnight to each other and the five newcomers checked in and they eventually went off to their apartments to go sleep. Becky and Kyle and Felicia remained behind in the control room.

"Damnit," Becky said. She tried to keep herself composed in front of Kyle and Felicia. "We're finally back together, all eleven of us, and Karen's still…Manticore."

"Some people take longer than others to come around," Zack said. "My family and I and you figured it out really early on and maybe some others did too, but with some people, if it's all they knew, it'll take them longer to figure things out. Don't worry about it. She'll come around."

"I know," Becky said.

"He's right," Kyle said. He managed a grin. "Hey, it was a good thing that you didn't tell her yet that Zack's your brother, huh?"

Becky shook her head and laughed and punched him in the shoulder. "Yeah, and it's a good thing that you can be an asshole when you need to be. Get back to sleep, Kyle. I'll see you in the morning on sentry duty."

"See you then," Kyle said. He went back to his apartment.

"I'm really sorry about that, Felicia," Becky apologized.

"You don't have anything to be sorry about," Felicia said. "Zack's right. Soon enough, Karen will come around." She yawned. "I better get back to my apartment and get back to sleep."

"Go. You sound exhausted," Becky said. She smiled at Felicia and waved as Felicia left the control room.

"Are you okay?" Max asked.

"I will be," Becky said. "I'll just wait until Maggie's asleep and won't wake up at a pindrop and I'll cry my eyes out about this then."

Max and Zack looked at her worriedly. "Are you serious or sarcastic?" Zack asked.

"I don't even know," Becky said, shrugging.

"You definitely look exhausted," Zack said. "I'll walk you back to your apartment, okay?"

"I could use the company," Becky admitted.

"I'll work with Alec on those plans until you get back," Max offered.

"Thanks," Zack said. He gave Max a quick kiss on the lips and he and Becky left.

TBC

Notes: Thanks to angelofdarkness78 and hphotshot5 for their reviews and support! It really means so much! Yes, Dalton/887 is the same Dalton from "Freak Nation." I just decided to make him a part of Becky's family, the same way I made Ralph a part of Jeff's family. Speaking of which, you will also be seeing CeCe and Gem soon. Thanks again!


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

A woman sat down at her desk in her study in her new home and sighed as she picked up a folder that was lying on the top of the desk. She opened it up and took out two pieces of paper and unclipped the two photographs that had been attached to them and stared at them, even though she'd seen these pictures several times by now and knew exactly who was on them. _I'll never forget these faces. Never in a million years._

She set the pictures down for a moment and looked around the room, a faint smirk on her face. _No more pictures of the bastard around! I wonder if he left Georgia for Germany yet. I hope so. The divorce might be final, but still, the sooner he's on a different continent from me, the better!_

The woman's gaze fell on a framed picture of herself and her ten-year-old daughter. _Oh, Jenny. Your collar was sticking out and…_ She caught herself and laughed. _That picture was taken six months ago and you still find yourself correcting her! Get over it. That reminds me, I should wake her up. I don't want her to be late for her first day of school here._

She got up and walked out of the room and up the stairs and down the hall to her daughter's room and carefully opened the door and stepped inside. She knelt down by the bed. "Jenny, sweetie, wake up. It's 7:30 in the morning. You need to start getting ready for school now."

"No way, Mom," Jenny mumbled. "Can I please sleep late today?"

"No, sweetie," the woman said. "You need to get up and get ready for school. We only moved here two days ago. We've got to make a good first impression. Wait at least a week or two before you show them how lazy you really are, okay?"

Jenny giggled. "Yes, Mom."

"That's my girl," the woman said. She gave Jenny a kiss on her forehead and went back to the doorway and turned around. "What do you want for breakfast today? Cereal? Waffles? Oatmeal?"

"Did you eat the rest of the blueberry toaster waffles yesterday?" Jenny asked.

The woman laughed. "Waffles it is. I'll stick some in the toaster for you while you're getting dressed." She left the room and went downstairs and into the kitchen and opened the freezer and took out the box of toaster waffles and made some for herself and for her daughter. She had just set them on the table and was pouring herself some juice when Jenny came into the room and sat down. "There you are. What do you want to drink? We've got apple juice, orange juice, and milk."

"Milk's good," Jenny said.

"Good," the woman said. She took out the milk and poured a glass and put the milk and juice containers back in the refrigerator and carried the glasses over to the table, handed Jenny the milk, and sat down with her glass of juice and took a sip. "Are you looking forward to school today?"

"Sort of," Jenny said. "I like school, but I wish that we didn't have to move. Why did we have to leave Georgia? Why did Dad have to leave Georgia, too? Is it because you and Dad can't stand each other now that you're divorced?"

"No," the woman said. _Well, partially. He was the one who actually requested the transfer. I was given mine by my superiors._ "You know that because of what your father and I both do, the possibility was always there of one or both of us getting transferred at any moment to pretty much anywhere. We explained that to you when your old friend Nina moved away because her dad had been transferred to Japan when you were five, remember?"

"I remember," Jenny said.

The woman quickly ate her breakfast and stood up to put her dishes away in the sink. "Finish up, Jenny. I want to have you at school by twenty minutes after eight at the latest. Don't forget to brush your teeth before we leave."

"I won't, Mom," Jenny promised. She got up and put her own dishes in the sink before she went back upstairs.

The woman watched her go and then went back into her study and picked up the two photographs again. _Will I finally get to see…?_ She wiped the tear that fell from the corner of one of her eyes. _After everything that I've gone through, after everything…_

"Mom, I'm ready," Jenny shouted from the front door.

"I'll be right there," the woman said. She stood up, quickly re-attached the photographs to their papers, shoved the papers back in the folder and grabbed it, took a look at herself in the mirror and took a deep breath before she left the room.

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much for the review, angelofdarkness78! Don't worry, this part will make sense soon. This nameless (so far) woman is NOT the same nameless woman that you've seen before with White.


	17. Chapter 17a

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

The woman slowed her Jeep down to a stop and parked it near several military vehicles. She grabbed her folder and got out of the car and walked up through the crowd over to where the military had set up several tents. She looked around and started to go over to a soldier to ask where the general in charge was, but she was interrupted by a voice.

"Caroline Robinson? Is that you?"

The woman grinned and walked up to the man who had spoken. "Dennis Murphy. It's been a long time since I last saw you."

"West Point, May of 1994, the week before I graduated," he agreed. "You look great. You don't look a day over forty-six."

"Very funny," Caroline said. "And I'm not. My forty-sixth birthday isn't until July."

"I know, I was kidding," Dennis said. "Seriously, don't look much past forty, if that."

"Thank you," Caroline said. "You've definitely come a long way. Four stars. Congratulations."

"Thanks," Dennis said. "What about you? You were only a freshman when I graduated, but you were definitely on the fast track back at West Point. I thought you'd be only a star or two behind me at this point but you're still only a colonel. What happened?"

"This and that," Caroline said. _If you knew the reason that I think is the reason why they held me back…_ "I was in a car accident about eight years ago and it took me a long time to recover, so that set me back awhile."

Dennis looked at her. "You can always tell me the entire story later."

"Thanks, I will," Caroline said. "You're looking pretty good yourself. Either my eyes are going or the only grey on or in your head is still the color of your eyes."

"Nope, those eyes of yours aren't betraying you yet," Dennis said with a smirk. "You still look like you pass for a beauty queen. All you need is the blond dye-job and the implants."

"I'm so sorry that I was cursed with brown hair," Caroline teased.

"Are you married?" Dennis asked.

"No, divorced," Caroline said. "It became final about a month ago, actually. We were married for twenty-one years, but things fell apart after my accident and I stayed in the marriage for as long as I did after that pretty much for my daughter's sake. I have a ten-year-old daughter with my ex. Her name's Jennifer. How about you? Are you married?"

"No, I've been divorced twice," Dennis said. "I just broke it off with my latest girlfriend before I got assigned to come here to Seattle for this assignment. I don't have any children. You're lucky."

"Yeah, I am," Caroline said.

"Listen, why don't we go inside and start talking business," Dennis said. "We can finish catching up later."

"Good idea," Caroline said. Dennis led her into one of the tents and they sat down at the table that had been set up in the middle of it. She put down her folder. "Here's information that I was given about some of the transgenics."

"Let's see what you've got," Dennis said.

Caroline looked him right in the eye. "Are you sure about this, Dennis?"

"Yeah," Dennis said. He started to say more, but he caught the look on Caroline's face. "There's something wrong, isn't there?"

"I wouldn't exactly classify it as wrong," Caroline said. "You remember when we met up when we were both donating for that government research project that was testing that medication that promoted cell regeneration and how they needed different types of cells?"

"Including reproductive cells," Dennis recalled. He frowned as he realized what Caroline was about to say. "That was a front for Manticore?"

Caroline nodded and took out two pieces of paper from the folder and slid them over to Dennis. "Take a look for yourself. These two are pretty undeniable evidence of that, wouldn't you say?"

Dennis took the papers and his eyes widened. "Oh my God."

"Excuse me, General," a young soldier interrupted, sticking his head in the tent. "There's an NSA agent here to see you."

"We'll be right out," Dennis said. He handed the papers back to Caroline, who put them back in her folder and they marched out of the tent and over to where White was standing nearby. "Can I help you?"

"Special Agent Ames White, NSA," he said, showing them his badge. "I'm in charge of the operation."

"I'm sorry, but you need to recheck your information," Dennis said coldly. "The whole Manticore cleanup operation, which includes the situation here in Seattle, is a joint operation between the military and the NSA. You might be coordinating the teams that are rounding up the transgenics that are on the loose, but the military is in command of this specific situation here."

White nodded, slightly unnerved. _Something's off here. They seem familiar to me._ "My apologies." He opened up a folder of his own. "General Dennis Murphy and Colonel Caroline Nelson?"

"Robinson," Caroline corrected. She didn't like White one bit already. "I dropped the last name the second my divorce became final last month."

"How can we help you, Agent White?" Dennis asked.

"I just wanted an update on the situation," White said.

"Not much to update," Dennis said. "They haven't done anything to warrant any kind of action yet. We've noticed a few transgenics wandering about within Terminal City as far as we can make out and we assume that there are some out on sentry duty, but they're keeping themselves hidden. You will be notified should something occur."

"Of course," White said. "You've reviewed the information that you received about the transgenics?"

"We're in the process," Caroline said. "Why? Do you have any addition information that's missing from what we received?"

"No," White said. He couldn't tell them everything about his run-ins with Max and Zack and Becky and Alec and the others without giving away too much about himself. "I guess that will be all for now."

"Good," Dennis said. "Check back in with us tomorrow if you like."

"I might do that," White said. He turned around and left.

Dennis and Caroline watched him go and then turned around and walked back into the tent. "So that's the prick who's been hunting them down," Caroline said. "What an asshole."

"I didn't like him at all either," Dennis said. "He's got his own agenda, I can tell that much from him already, and I've got a feeling that agenda of his is dangerous for them."

"Right now, so are we," Caroline said. She laughed bitterly. "How sick is that?"

"Let's try not to be dangerous to them," Dennis said. "We won't hurt them at all if we can help it."

* * *

White got back into his limo and sat down and picked up his cell phone and dialed his office. "Fenos'tol."

"Fenos'tol. What can I do for you, buddy?" Stephen asked.

"I need you to get all the information you can and everything you can't on the two people that are in charge of the military forces outside of Terminal City," White said. "I need you to work your other contacts on this one because it'll look suspicious if I have my people do it."

"No problem," Stephen said. "Who are they?"

"General Dennis Murphy and Colonel Caroline Robinson," White told him. "She might also be under the last name Nelson. She apparently has recently been divorced and Robinson is her maiden name."

"Got it," Stephen said. "You need to know just who you're dealing with, huh?"

"Absolutely," White said. _I need to know why they are so familiar to me. Why do I have a feeling that it's as critical as it is to know who they are?_

TBC

Notes: Thank you again to angelofdarkness78 for the review! Your support still means a lot to me. The woman, Caroline, is not Belinda, the woman that White's friend Stephen was married to. Belinda is definitely dead and she will not be appearing later, except possibly being mentioned in conversation by Stephen or somebody like that. As for exactly who Caroline is, that will become apparent very soon if it hasn't already. More Max/Zack action will be coming up in two or three parts at the latest :)


	18. Chapter 17b

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"Look who's here," Max said quietly as she watched from the window of a nearby building as she stood on sentry duty. "Everbody's favorite asshole."

"White?" Krit guessed. He peeked out the window and saw White talking with Caroline and Dennis before leaving. "Well, he's leaving now. Looks like he wanted a chat with the general and his second-in-command."

"That's not a surprise," Max said. "What are they like?"

"I don't know," Krit said. He frowned. "There's something odd here. They don't want to hurt us."

"Well, that's nice to know," Max said.

"Max, I'm serious and I think they are too," Krit said. "First of all, neither of them appears to trust White farther than they can throw him. Second of all, he mentions to her that he's got the feeling that White has his own thing going and it's dangerous to us and she points out that the two of them are dangerous to us too. Then she kind of laughed, kind of like how Becky does sometimes when she's talking about something that's frustrating her or getting her down, and says 'How sick is that?' Why would she say something like that? To which the general replies 'Let's try not to be dangerous to them. We won't hurt them at all if we can help it.' They want to protect all of us, or at the very least a few of us specifically."

Max frowned. "That is weird." She zoomed in on Caroline and Dennis and took in everything, their uniforms, their name tags, everything. She focused in on Caroline's face and gasped is surprise. "Her eyes," she whispered. Her mind went back to early August.

* * *

"_Don't worry, Zack will be here in a few minutes," Max told Becky after she disconnected her cell phone. "Just hang tight."_

"_Hang tight…yeah, sure," Becky said._

"_Don't worry," Logan said. "Is there anything that you want to look up while you're waiting for Zack?"_

"_Hell, while we're on the subject, how about my biological parents?" Becky said sarcastically._

_Logan missed Becky's sarcasm by a mile and was scrolling down Becky's file. "Here we go. Biological donors: #M100957122500 and #F100264399375." He clicked on one of the links. "Biological donor #M100957122500. Name: Dennis Andrew Murphy. Donor for: 330417291599 and 330768235405. D.O.B: June 11th, 1972. Place of Birth: Baltimore, Maryland. Current Marital Status: Divorced. Children: None. Occupation at time of donation: Student/West Point. Current Occupation: Pentagon, Four-Star General, in charge…" He trailed off and read the rest silently. "There's no picture. I'm sorry."_

"_It's okay," Becky said. "What about my biological mother?"_

_Logan clicked on the link. "Biological donor #F100264399375. Name: Caroline Ashley Robinson. Donor for: 330417291599 and 330768235405. D.O.B.: July 7th, 1975. Place of Birth: Columbus, Ohio. Current Marital Status: Married. Spouse: Colonel Patrick Nelson. Children: 1, Jennifer Audrey Nelson (D.O.B.: 4/2/2011). Occupation at time of donation: Student/West Point. Current Occupation: Fort Benning, Colonel." Again, he read the rest silently. "There's no picture for her either."_

"_Darn my luck," Becky said sarcastically._

"_Get two donors that were already in the military or were on their way there," Max said. "Give themselves an even better chance of getting at least one great military leader. Sick bastards. I wonder if they knew or if they left them at least partially in the dark since they wouldn't have had the clearance at that point to know about Manticore, if they ever knew about Manticore at all."_

"_Who knows?" Becky said. She sat back down and quietly and nervously continued to wait for Zack._

* * *

"Zack's eyes," Max whispered.

"Huh? Max, what the hell are you talking about?" Krit asked.

"Take a good look at the general and the colonel," Max said. "A serious good look."

"Okay," Krit said. He zoomed in on Dennis and Caroline and he blinked. "They look like Zack and Becky."

"They're their biological parents," Max said.

"Are you shitting me?" Krit said.

"I wish I was," Max said. "I saw it in the database for myself back when Logan managed to decrypt the information on the X-series." She was quiet for a moment while she continued to watch what was going on outside. "They know. They somehow figured it out and they don't want to hurt Zack and Becky."

"I guess they have to get it from somewhere," Krit said.

Max laughed a little. "Yeah, they do." They waited while two X6s came up to relieve them and they headed back to the main building and into the control room.

"Good to see that you two are back unscathed," Dix said.

"Anything significant happen while you were out?" Zack asked.

Max and Krit looked at each other before they looked over to where Zack was standing with Becky. "Yeah, and you two are going to want to sit down when you hear this one."

"Sit down?" Becky repeated. She raised an eyebrow in surprise and amusement. "What can be so shocking that it'll make us want to sit down when we hear it?" She shrugged and she and Zack found two chairs and sat down. Max and Krit grabbed two more chairs and sat down in front of them. "Go ahead. What's this big shocking thing?"

"The general and the colonel both arrived while Krit and I were on our shift," Max said. "After a little while, White showed up and asked for an update. Actually, he tried to take over the show but the general told him where to shove it. Not in those words, of course, but you know what I mean. White apologized and asked for an update and got it and went off to who-knows-where. The weird part was after he left." She bit her lip. "Afterwards, both the general and the colonel seemed really defensive and not just because White leaves that kind of an impression on people in general. They seemed defensive of us. They said they didn't want to hurt us. In fact, the colonel said that she thought it was sick that the two of them were there and could hurt us. I looked closely at them and the colonel's eyes caught my attention and I knew just who they were. I'd heard White say their names, of course, but it didn't click in my mind until I saw the colonel's eyes." She looked Zack right in the eye. "They were your eyes. The general's name is Dennis Murphy and the colonel's name is Caroline Robinson. Your's and Becky's parents."

Becky looked like she was going to puke. "Holy shit. This isn't real."

"Unfortunately, it is real," Krit said. "You guys look like them. I have no clue where the blond hair comes from since both of them have brown hair, but both of you look too much and act like the two of them for this to be a mistake. They're definitely your parents."

"Jesus," Zack said. He ran a hand through his hair. "This is insane."

"Zack, they know," Max said. "They said they didn't want to hurt them if either of them could help it. That must mean that they know about you and Becky. They're on our side. They won't let anything happen to the two of you." She smirked. "Where do you guys think you get that protective instinct from?"

That got a little laugh out of both Zack and Becky. "Good point," Becky admitted.

"Come on," Max said. She stood up. "Let's get back to our apartments. I think we all need to rest and think this bitch over."

"Good call," Zack said. "I know I do."

TBC

Notes: Lots and lots of thanks go out to angelofdarkness78 and hphotshot for their reviews and support!


	19. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Kevin grabbed Christian's left foot just before it would have nailed him in the head and kicked Christian in his right knee, sending him down to the ground. He quickly put his foot on Christian's throat before he could get up. "I win."

"You got lucky," Christian said.

"Yeah, right," Layla, a newly arrived member of Jeff and Christian's family, said from where she was watching on the sidelines of the sparring area of the gym. "You were never the best at martial arts in our family. It's almost nice to see that you still haven't gotten your head out of your ass."

"Bitch," Christian said.

"How sweet," Kevin said. He looked over towards the entrance and saw Becky and Zack come into the gym. He saw the looks on their faces and frowned. "I'll catch up with you later. Good round." He walked towards them and waved. "Hey, Becky!"

Becky looked at Zack, who nodded towards her, and walked over to Kevin. "Hey, Kevin. What's going on?"

"I just sparred with Christian and kicked his ass," he said. "Are you okay?"

"Not really," Becky admitted. They walked over to a bench and sat down. "I found out something an hour or so ago and I'm still reeling from it."

"What, something that has to do with Jeff?" Kevin guessed.

"No, nothing that has to do with me," Jeff said. "Becky, what's wrong?"

"Sit down and join the party and I'll tell you guys," Becky said. She sighed. "Max and Krit saw the general who's now in charge of the military forces outside of Terminal City and the colonel who's his second-in-command. Guess who they turned out to be?"

"Beats the hell out of me," Jeff said. "Who are they?"

"Mine and Zack's parents," Becky said.

"Back the truck up here," Kevin said, confused as hell. "Your parents? As in the man and woman who combined comprise at least 80 percent of your genetic makeup?"

"The same ones," Becky said. "They were both students at West Point when they donated, he was a senior and she was a freshman, and now he's a four-star general and she's a colonel and they're out here in charge of the military forces that are surrounding us."

"Unbelievable," Jeff said. "Do they have any kind of clue about you and Zack?"

"Actually, I think they do," Becky said. "Max and Krit said that they didn't like the fact that they were the ones who were out here because they could potentially hurt us. They not only know about me and Zack, but they're on our side where it counts. I'm not sure how they found out about Zack and me, most likely they just saw our pictures and remembered that they donated knowingly or unknowingly to Manticore and they put two and two together and figured it out that way, but they know and they don't want to hurt us. Or any of us, I think."

"Except possibly me when your dad finds out that you have a boyfriend," Jeff said.

Becky smiled. "Jeff, you're a top-rated X6 and second-in-command of a Manticore facility's entire squad of X6s. You're afraid of my dad?" She was quiet again. "My dad. That sounds really weird."

The three of them were quiet for several moments before Kevin spoke up. "You know, I have gotten out on missions and I've heard of parents wanting to enforce their kids' grounding, but this is ridiculous."

Becky burst out laughing. "I really needed that, Kevin." She gave him a hug. "Thank you so much. I love you, bro."

"What, you'll hug your younger brother and tell him that you love him, but nothing for your boyfriend?" Jeff teased.

"I've got something for my boyfriend," Becky said. She turned and wrapped her arms around Jeff and kissed him deeply. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Jeff said.

"I'm going to vomit all over both of you," Kevin said.

"I'm going to smear you all around the gym if you do," Becky said sweetly.

"Speaking of which," Jeff said, glancing over to the other side of the gym where Christian and Layla were having an argument. "I'm going to go over there and get involved before Christian and Layla smear each other all over the gym." He gave Becky another kiss.

"We'll come with you," Becky said. The three of them got up off of the bench and walked over to where Christian and Layla were.

"What's going on?" Jeff asked.

"Layla's just being a bitch," Christian said.

"I'm being a bitch? Look who's acting like he's the king of the damn world and he's being a—" Layla started to say.

"We get the picture here," Jeff said. "You two need to cool it. I'm serious."

"Sorry," Christian and Layla both said.

"That's okay," Jeff said. "Anybody here want to go at it for a round with me?"

"Yeah, I'll go for it," an X6 from a unit in New York said.

"Great," Jeff said. He and the other X6 stepped out onto one of the mats and they started sparring.

"You look better," Zack said.

"I feel better," Becky said. "Did you hear the joke that Kevin made about the deal."

"Yeah, I did," Zack said. He smirked. "Not bad."

"Oh my God, Zack actually has a sense of humor," Becky said, pretending to be shocked. "I was starting to think about asking one of the Psy Ops soldiers to have a look at you because I didn't think you had one or would ever develop one."

"Have I ever mentioned what Max and I were planning on doing in our apartment after I'm finished here in the gym?" Zack said.

Becky paled. "Okay, you win."

"Nice," Kevin said. "That was nice."

"Thank you," Zack said.

"Please, don't encourage him," Becky said.

"You _are_ good," Kevin said. His respect for Zack increased by the second.

"I know," Zack said.

TBC

Notes: Thanks again to angelofdarkness78 and hphotshot for their reviews and support! aod78, more Max/Zack action will be coming up next and it might actually be a little while before Becky and Zack and at least one of their parents will meet face to face, though they might glimpse one another before then. Also, I am writing a new fic which is a prequel to this whole series (Where Were You, Together, and All of Us) that will be the backstory of Caroline, Zack and Becky's mom. It will be posted so far at my new yahoo group and possibly later on my website. The first part of that should be posted pretty soon and group invites were sent out. Thank you so much again!


	20. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"Max, what on earth is this?" Zack asked as he looked down at his plate.

"It's supposed to be a reheated frozen lasagna," Max said. "Why?"

"It looks more like something that Zane found on a training mission out in the woods at Manticore back in the summer of '08," Zack said. He poked at the food on his plate with his fork and took a forkful and took a bite. "Though it actually tastes pretty decent."

Max sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. I thought you were going to tell me that it also tasted like crap. I was never very good at cooking."

"It could be worse," Zack said. "It could be Brin attempting to cook. I'm hoping Alec can cook because the three of them are screwed if he can't."

"Brin's a worse cook than I am?" Max said skeptically. "She actually loves to cook. She told me that."

"She obviously didn't tell you how bad she is at it," Zack said. "When I stopped by her apartment this one time back in September of 2017, I was hungry so I opened her refrigerator to see what she had in there and there was a container of something that looked like a meatloaf and tasted like it had been made in the sewers. It probably would have given an ordinary food poisoning."

"Yikes," Max said. "Please tell me that you threw that out for her."

"I did," Zack said. "She wasn't too happy about it, but she knew that on a scale of one to ten of things I've done to make you guys angry over the course of the past twelve years, that didn't even make the scale."

"You've done a lot, but it's all in the past," Max said. "It's time to think about the future."

"Yeah," Zack said. He ate his food thoughtfully.

"You're still hung up on the biological parents being in charge dealio, aren't you?" Max said.

"I know, it's been two days since we found out, but it's a huge shock, Maxie," Zack said. "Even for somebody like you and me, to find out that the people who donated their genetic material so that you could exist, whether they knew exactly what they were doing or not, are not only here but could possibly hurt and or kill you if the situation comes to it is a big shock. You want to hear something weird? Don't tell Zane or Krit or Wayne this because they'd never let me hear the end of it." He sighed and looked down at the table for a moment before bringing his gaze back in line with Max's. "I haven't asked to be put on sentry duty by the main gate since because I'm scared to look at them. It's stupid. They're just two people that I semi-randomly happen to be genetically related to. It's nothing."

"You're entitled to be freaked out about this," Max said. "There's nothing anywhere that says that even somebody like you can't be freaked out by something as big as this. You've never met these people before in your life and maybe you won't at all, but…"

"Exactly," Zack said. "I know that Becky's still freaked out about it, but Jeff and her younger siblings are helping her deal with it. She doesn't know what to do about the general and the colonel either."

Max nodded. "Can't even refer to them by name, can you?"

"Not yet," Zack agreed. "Not yet."

"Let's drop the subject for now," Max said. She saw how agitated Zack was starting to become and she didn't want to upset him anymore than he already was. "Speaking of our brothers, what are they up to right now?"

Zack gave Max a grateful look. "Krit and Syl are doing something that I don't think that either of us wants to think about. Wayne's got a date with an X6 tonight and before you can go nuts, he assured us that she's eighteen." He smirked. "I double-checked the database to make sure that he wasn't lying." He grinned when he heard Max's laughter. "She really is eighteen. Zane's over at Rena's apartment for dinner tonight. I don't know what he or Wayne are up to later tonight." He made a face. "Well, I can guess what or rather who Wayne is going to be doing or at least is hoping who he'll be doing later tonight."

"That's Wayne," Max said. "Some men take longer than others to go through their single horny bastard phase."

"Some men don't go through that phase because they're lucky enough to fall in love with somebody early on," Zack said softly.

Max blushed and smiled almost shyly. "Some women are lucky enough to be the ones that those men fall in love with."

Zack leaned over the table and kissed Max tenderly. "I love you so much, Maxie. I swear that I'll love you forever."

"I love you too," Max said. She felt a tear escape her eye as she felt the emotion behind her words and Zack's. "I love you so much."

They sat their silently, both of them too overwhelmed to speak or even to eat. Finally, they both started eating quietly and after another few minutes, talking again. "I've going to teach a class of the older X9s that are here. Martial arts. Fairly basic stuff, at least for us, but that's where that group was up to."

"I'm a little surprised that some of us are still being trained to some extent," Max said.

"I am too," Zack said. "But some of the younger ones need it. The older X8s on up are fine with the training that they've received so far, but the younger X8s and the X9s and eventually the children that resulted from the breeding program and Little Max when and if it comes to them, they need to be able to defend themselves. Even you can't argue with that fact."

"True," Max said. "At least it won't be as intense or as torturous as what they put us through back at Manticore."

"Exactly," Zack said.

"Speaking of intense…" Max said teasingly. Her eyes sparkled playfully. "After we finish our dinner—"

"I'm done," Zack said. He dropped his fork onto his mostly empty plate, picked up a giggling Max, and practically ran into their bedroom.

TBC

Notes: Thank you very much for the constructive criticism, Jade Hunter. To answer/clarify some or all of the points that you brought up in your review, Zack and Becky are both still freaked out by the whole situation, as Zack mentioned in this chapter. If Becky and Zack seem pretty accepting of the whole situation with Dennis and Caroline right now, it's because they're in shock about it. Becky did refer to Dennis as her dad in the previous chapter, but she was teasing and joking around with Jeff and Kevin when she made that comment and she did call herself on it. They are soldiers and they are struggling to deal with the situation. At this point in time, the most they feel towards Dennis and Caroline is relief that they know that while officially they are on opposite sides of the whole situation, they are in reality allies. There's also a whole backstory with Caroline, which I'm currently working on as a separate fic as I mentioned in my notes at the end of the previous chapter and which will also be touched on later in this fic and that will have at least a significant influence on the relationship that Zack and Becky will have with her and Dennis (that will be the getting to know them part). I hope this helps! You're actually a very good reviewer. I found your constructive criticism very helpful and it made plenty of sense.


	21. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"What a beautiful day," Rena remarked to Max and Jondy as the three of them walked down the street in the middle of Terminal City. "Blue sky, warm air, nothing like being trapped in a contaminated area of Seattle in June."

"Yep," Jondy said. "Spring is still in the air, love is in the air…I'm surprised that you and Zack—"

"Give it a rest, we don't do it that often," Max said, rolling her eyes.

"Don't do it that often? I don't know what little dash of something other than feline that Zack's got in his DNA, but it's got to be rabbit because you guys are always smooching and I frequently see you with that dopey 'I just had mind-blowing sex' grin on your face," Rena said.

"Rena, we're not that bad," Max said. She blushed.

Rena and Jondy laughed. "I know. We're just kidding," Rena said.

"Besides," Max said. She grinned wickedly. _You are definitely not getting out of this one unscathed, sis!_ "What have you and Zane been doing lately? I know that he's spent a lot of time over at your apartment and you've spent time at his when neither of you have things to do and you're smiling a lot yourself."

"Rena and Zane are doing it! Rena and Zane are doing it!" Jondy sang cheerfully.

"We're not! Zane and I have always been close. You both remember. Besides, we're not even dating yet," Rena said.

"Ha! She finally admits that she likes Zane that way," Max said triumphantly. "Syl's gonna be sorry that she missed this moment."

"Grow up," Rena said. "Okay, fine, I think that I'm in love with Zane. I think that's the reason why I was so angry with Zack for at least a good part of the first two years or so after we escaped Manticore, because he separated Zane and me after he found the two of us in New Jersey. Let's go get Syl and have a celebration."

"Especially if it ends with you and Zane naked in a bed together?" Jondy teased.

"Shut up, grow up, and get a man of your own," Rena said. "Hey, there's something that we can do today. Let's try to set Jondy up with somebody."

"Oh come on," Jondy begged as the three of them reached their apartment building and went upstairs to Rena's apartment, which was the closest. "You guys wouldn't do that to me, would you?"

"Let me think about it," Max said. She pretended to think while Rena unlocked the door and let them in. "Um…yeah, we would and we will."

"Okay, Rena, I'm sorry," Jondy said.

"Too late," Rena said with a smirk. She sat down in an armchair. "Now let's think about it here…who can we set Jondy up with? Zack is definitely out because we really want Jondy alive and not dead or mutilated as a result of Max getting jealous. Zane is definitely out because then I would be force to cause grievous bodily harm."

"Okay, so you two already have guys or are this close to having guys," Jondy said as she sat down next to Max on the couch. "Fine, I'm jealous. Max is with Zack, you are this close from being with Zane, Syl and Krit are together, Brin is about as close to being together with Alec as you are with Zane, and Jace is waiting for her boyfriend Victor. I'm the odd one out."

"So let's get back to the subject at hand," Max said. "Biggs is out because Sasha would tear you up into tiny pieces and then give them to her daughters to play with, there's Jay, that guy from Unit 6 from back in Wyoming. He's pretty hot."

"No way," Jondy said. "I've talked with Jay a little lately and he is pretty hot, but he is so damn boring that after a long conversation with him, the only thing that I want to do is to go to bed and take a nice nap and I don't need to sleep under normal circumstances."

"What about Nick, that X4 from Seattle?" Rena suggested.

"He's cute and he's not too much older than me, but I don't think that he's mastered the concept of being polite to women yet," Jondy said. "This is stupid. I'll just have to wait to find a man and in the mean time just be the odd one out."

"Yeah, you and Wayne are the…" Max trailed off as an idea came to mind. "Holy crap, you and Wayne! That's perfect!"

"Oh come on, Max," Jondy complained. "Wayne's my brother, like he's your brother and Rena's. It'd be too weird."

"Yeah, and like Zack and Zane are our brothers," Rena said. "Come on, Jondy, you two would be perfect for each other and not just because you two are the only ones in our family who haven't hooked up with somebody yet. You two love to pull off stunts even crazier than what Max or I would do, you have a similar sense of humor, and you like a lot of the same things, including that nasty French roast nut crap coffee. How can you like that stuff? It tastes like roasted shit."

"Which makes me wonder how you know what roasted shit tastes like," Jondy teased. She sighed. "Guys, I don't know. Besides, Wayne's happy dating around." She shrugged. "Whatever."

"I think that's all we're going to get out of this topic," Max said.

"I think you're right," Rena said. She got up and went into her kitchen. "Do you guys want some coffee or tea or something to drink? I stocked up on some on my last run out."

"Coffee sounds good," Max said.

"Jondy?" Rena asked.

"Tea's fine, especially if you have that ginger green tea stuff again," Jondy said.

"Of course I do," Rena said. "What are you guys doing tonight?"

"Working a shift in the nursery again," Max said. "At least at night it's just the X9s and not the breeding program kids as well because those kids are with their parents at night. Well, except for little Anna."

"Hey, Sasha did tell us about Diane's favorite activity," Rena said. "Sasha's wrong about things like that as often as I am."

"It's amazing how close you and Sasha have gotten over the last four months," Max said.

"I know," Rena admitted. "When we first met, we were complete bitches to each other before Sasha broke down after you and Alec and I took her down before she could get you and now we're as close as if we'd grown up with each other like normal twins. I guess blood really is thicker than water. Look at Zack and Becky, for crying out loud."

"Those two and you guys are lucky," Jondy said. "It'd be nice to have a sibling by blood. Even having a clone close in age to me would be nice. Those X7s not counting, of course. I've met my X7 clone and she was just weird. She didn't seem too interested in having a decent conversation with me, much less a friendship."

"It's got to be how the X7s were wired together," Max said. "Some of them, like Blair and one or two others I've met, are better than others but they all pretty much like to keep to themselves. It must be an effect of the whole hive mind bat DNA thing because none of us are like that if our personalities aren't."

"Who knows?" Rena said. She poured cups of coffee for herself and Max and poured hot water in Jondy's mug and put the tea bag in and handed the drinks out. "We're all weird."

"We're all human, whether the world wants to admit it or not," Jondy said. "Besides, how are we to know if maybe humans are more like other animals in terms of their personalities than we thought they were?"

"Good call, sis," Max said. She sipped her coffee and held her mug out. "Let's have a toast. To us, to our love lives, and to our siblings. May they all be good and may those people outside know how good we are."

"Here, here," Jondy and Rena agreed. The three of them clinked their mugs together and drank from them.

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much for the reviews and support, angelofdarkness78 and Jade Hunter! It continues to mean a lot to me.


	22. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"This was a perfect idea," Jondy said to Max a few nights later as the two of them and most of the adult and adolescent transgenics gathered in an unused parking garage. "We should celebrate the one year anniversary of Manticore going down for good."

"How can we not?" Max said, grinning. "If there was something for us to celebrate, this is it."

"Absolutely," Jondy said. She looked around the room. "Oh, look, there's Wayne…and friends. What's he trying to do, get into bed with all three of those girls at the same time tonight?"

Max got an idea. "You never know with Wayne. Excuse me a sec, sis?"

"Sure," Jondy said.

"Cool," Max said. She looked around the room for a moment before she spotted Syl, Brin, and Rena standing together talking. She walked over to them and waved Jace over. "Okay, is it just me or are any of you getting the impression that Jondy might be having those special feelings for Wayne?"

"The Evel Knievels of our family together? That'd be nice," Brin said sincerely.

"I've seen it," Syl said.

"You mean she actually might have feelings for him?" Rena said. She looked over in Jondy's direction and noticed how Jondy was 'casually' looking over to where Wayne was. "Holy crap, you nailed it on the head, baby sister."

"Good call, Max," Jace said. "What do you want us to do?"

Max grinned wickedly. "Help me, of course. I'm going to set them up whether they like it or not. Okay, whether they'll admit that they like it or whether they won't admit it. I was thinking that we'd set Jondy up by challenging her to some kind of bet that we know she'll lose at and the penalty for losing is that she has to go out on a date with Wayne."

"That is slick," Syl said.

"Thank you," Max said. "What does Jondy absolutely suck at…?"

* * *

"Hey, baby sister."

Becky jumped and turned around and saw Zack standing behind her. "Hey, big brother. What do you think of the party?"

"I'm not usually much of a party person, but this seems to be pretty good," Zack said.

"Same here," Becky said. She looked around the room. "There's most of your sisters and your girlfriend."

Zack looked in that direction and frowned. "They're conspiring. Damn." He shook his head. "I'm feeling sorry for Jondy."

"Why Jondy?" Becky asked.

"Because Jondy isn't there conspiring with them," Zack pointed out.

"Oh yeah," Becky said.

"It's okay," Zack said. He looked around the room. "Almost everybody in your family is here. Where's Karen?"

"In the nursery helping to watch over the babies," Becky said.

Zack caught the sadness in her voice. "She's still loyal to Manticore, isn't she?"

"Yeah," Becky said. She looked down for a moment. "She hasn't been getting along with Felicia either. Actually, she hasn't been talking to Felicia at all. When she sees that Felicia is in the room, she either looks away or goes into another room. It's like she doesn't want to acknowledge the fact that Felicia's alive. I think that Karen's trying to convince herself on some level that Felicia really did die that day and that Lydecker never lied to me about that and Manticore wasn't wrong and…you get the idea." She sighed sadly.

"It's okay," Zack said. He put an arm around Becky's shoulders and squeezed. "You've got to hang in there."

"I know, I know," Becky said. "But Zack, it's killing me inside a little bit every time I see Karen ignore Felicia or every time that Karen gets angry or annoyed when I or somebody else says something anti-Manticore. Even though Karen still likes everyone else in our family, except for Felicia and I know that she still likes her deep down where it counts, and she pretty much gets along with everybody in our family fine it's starting to drive her apart from everybody else. I can see it in how Dalton and Brent and Kevin get a little edgy when one or more of them are in the same room with Karen and in how Maggie sometimes glares at Karen behind her back when Karen turns away for a moment when they're talking together and just little things like that. What am I supposed to do? Tell Karen that until she wakes up and sees the light that she can't be around the rest of our siblings or should I just wait until things really fall apart between her and everybody else, possibly including me? What am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know," Zack said. "I wish this wasn't happening with you and your family, but I don't know how to make this situation any better. If I directly interfere, it might make things worse because I'm sure Karen thinks that I'm a traitor because of '09."

"She does," Becky said. "I still haven't even had the nerve to tell her about you and I being brother and sister yet. That's so weak of me."

"That's not weak, that's human," Zack said. He hugged Becky. It hurt him to see how much this was bothering her. "One way or another, you'll find a way to work things out. I've got faith in you."

"Thank you," Becky said. Zack released her and they continued to watch everybody.

* * *

Max whispered something to Alec, who nodded and walked off. She whistled loudly. "Hey, everyone! I got a challenge for my sister Jondy!"

"Oh, really?" Jondy said skeptically. "What could be so big of a challenge that it requires you to scream it out in front of hundreds of people?"

"A drinking contest," Max said, smirking. "You were a bartender so you should know what those are, right?"

Zack groaned. "Max, are you really going to have a drinking contest with Jondy?"

"I guess that means that he prefers sober sex to drunken sex," Zane remarked. That got him glares from Max and Zack and he grinned. "Is that a yes or a no?"

"It's a none of your business unless you want to be decapitated?" Zack said. He turned to Krit. "Krit, if you were going to say what I think you were going to say, I will make sure that you and Syl never have children together."

"Why does he still have to be almost psychic sometimes?" Krit muttered.

"Anyway," Max said. "I never said that I was the one that was going to be drinking against Jondy." She gestured to Syl. "That honor belongs to Syl here."

"Then why isn't she challenging Jondy herself?" Becky asked.

"Because I came up with the specific dare," Max said. "If Jondy wins, then Syl has to be Rena's slave for an entire week."

"Sweet! I'm really liking this dare," Rena said happily.

"I'm not," Syl grumbled, pretending to be mad. She'd been the one to come up with the dare, knowing that it would have to be good to make sure that Jondy would participate in the contest. "You'd better go down, Jondy. That's all I've got to say."

"Oh yeah? You're the one who's gonna go down," Jondy said.

"I haven't forgotten you, Jondy," Max said. "If you lose, then you've got to go out on a date with Wayne."

"Hey!" Wayne said in surprise.

"You're on," Jondy said.

"How come I wasn't told about this?" Wayne asked.

"Hey, you might get a date out of it," Max said. "So, we're on?"

"Definitely," Syl said.

"Absolutely," Jondy agreed.

"All right!" Max said. There were cheers from some of the transgenics and Jondy and Syl walked over to a nearby table and sat down. Somebody procured shot glasses and set them down on the table. "All we have to do now is wait for…here he is with the beverage of choice." Alec walked up to Max and handed her a bottle. "Everclear! I'm told by Alec that this is the highest proof alcohol an ordinary can tolerate and it doesn't take a lot at all for an ordinary to get drunk off of it but that for us, it'd be like an ordinary drinking vodka. So here's the deal, ladies. Everclear shots and the first person to either give up or pass out loses." She waited for Alec to start pouring the shots. "Are you two ready?"

"What are we waiting for?" Jondy asked, cracking her knuckles.

"Then begin!" Max declared.

They stood around the table and cheered as Syl and Jondy downed shot after shot. After four, the girls looked at each other nervously. Jace had said that Jondy didn't hold her liquor as well as other X5s she'd seen and Syl had assured them that she had drank Krit under the table more than once. Jondy started to look somewhat inebriated and when Alec finally poured them each a seventh shot, Jondy grabbed hers, drank it sloppily, slammed the glass down on the table and passed out, snoring loudly. Syl grabbed her shot, downed it quickly, and slammed her glass down triumphantly. "I win!"

"We've got a winner, and it's Syl!" Max declared. She looked over at Jondy. "Wow, she's snoring."

"I never thought I'd ever hear somebody snore louder or worse than Krit, but she wins," Jace remarked.

"I don't know what to think," Becky said. She looked amused. "Other than the fact that Sketchy would be insanely jealous of both Jondy and Syl right now, I'm…"

"Never going to participate in one of those?" Zack finished.

Becky rolled her eyes at his overprotectiveness but then smiled. "Yeah, I don't think I will. I needed that distraction, though." She saw the look that Max was giving her. "Either I'll explain it or Zack will later."

"Who's going to carry Jondy to her apartment and break the news to her that she's got a date with Wayne sometime in the near future?" Rena asked.

"If I carry her, does that count as the date?" Wayne joked.

"Nope, you both have to start out the date sober," Max said.

"Okay," Wayne said. He walked over to Jondy, a thoughtful look on his face, and then carefully picked her up. "Who wants to come with me so they can open the door for me?"

"I'll go with you," Jace said. They left the building.

"Mission accomplished," Max said, exchanging triumphant high-fives with the rest of her sisters.

"Karen's gonna be sorry that she missed this," Kyle said to Becky as he walked up to her.

"Yeah, she always did like watching other people make at least semi-idiots of themselves," Becky said. She saw Kyle watching her out of the corner of her eye and smiled, knowing what he was thinking. "Hey, how about we make sure that Kevin isn't getting the crap kicked out of him by those girls that he was trying to pick up?"

"Good idea," Kyle said, laughing. The two of them walked off.

Max walked up to Zack. "What was the deal with Becky?"

"She's still upset about Karen," Zack said. "It's really bothering her."

"Oh," Max said. "The poor kid."

"Becky or Karen?" Zack said.

"Both of them," Max said. "I don't know what to do for either of them."

"Neither do I," Zack said. They looked up when they heard Syl, who was a little tipsy, trying to make out with Krit as they were dancing. "Should we break that up before Syl hurts him?"

"Nah," Max said. "Krit can handle it. He knows Syl well enough."

"Like I know you," Zack said.

"Does that mean you want me to get drunk and make out with you?" Max teased.

"Drunk, no, but the making out part…" Zack said.

"I think Jondy was right. You must have a little bit of rabbit DNA in you," Max said.

"Actually, I looked on my file and it's wolf," Zack said.

"Oh," Max said. "Between us, it's cat and a dash of shark and a dash of wolf…I wouldn't have it any other way." She smiled and led Zack out to the dance floor.

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much again for your review and support, angelofdarkness78! More of Dennis and Caroline coming up soon and also more of White and another appearance from Joshua!


	23. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Dennis sat up and smiled when he heard the doorbell ring. He got up and opened his front door. "There you are! I'm glad you found the place."

"It wasn't too hard," Caroline replied. She took off her raincoat and handed it to Dennis, who hung it up near the door. "It's coming down out there. Don't you just love Seattle weather?"

"It thrills me," Dennis deadpanned. He went into the kitchen. "I ordered pizza. I hope you don't mind."

"No, pizza's fine with me," Caroline said, following Dennis.

"Good," Dennis said. The two of them grabbed a plate and sat down at Dennis' kitchen table and opened the box of pizza and each took a slice. They ate hungrily, only occasionally making small talk. After they had finished the pizza, they went into the living room and sat down on the couch. "Where's Jennifer?"

"Jenny's at home with a babysitter," Caroline said.

Dennis nodded and stared off at the wall. "You wonder what they're doing right now?"

"Yes," Caroline said softly. She knew that Dennis was referring to Zack and Becky. "I've wondered that since I found out about them."

"I can't believe it," Dennis said. "I've known about the two of them for more than a month now and I'm still having trouble sometimes wrapping my mind around the concept." He ran a hand through his hair. "They took our samples and they used them to help create these two so that they could be more than just soldiers, but killing machines? It's sick as hell. Zack and Becky's existence isn't sick, I could never think anything like that about them, but…"

"I know what you mean," Caroline said.

"It makes sense now," Dennis said. Caroline gave him an odd look and he clarified what he meant. "My assignments, where I was stationed, things like that. Even once I made general, I was never assigned anything that had to do or might have had to do with Manticore. They didn't want me to be around the kids—well, just Becky at that point since Zack had already escaped—and maybe figuring it out." He snorted. "They did a good job because I didn't have a clue about Zack and Becky being our children until you showed me those pictures. God, seeing the pictures of the two of them was like getting punched in the stomach. It wasn't bad, it was—"

"You were so shocked you couldn't breathe for a moment or two," Caroline said.

"Exactly," Dennis said. "I didn't see the broadcast when their pictures and those of the other two—Max and Alec—were shown. I only heard about it on the radio as I was driving back from work that night. Even then, though, I didn't understand what the big deal was about the transgenics. They or at least most of them were trained to control their abilities and the older X-series were trained to blend in with the general public and the younger ones were children. If the other transgenics could keep themselves hidden and off the radar, what was the problem? Oh yeah, Murphy, the government is full of paranoid morons. You should know, you work with a lot of them on a daily basis."

Caroline laughed a little. "That's definitely true."

"I get so furious when I think of what they've gone through so far in their lives," Dennis said. "Tortured, experimented on, pushed so hard so young, running for their lives? I mean, Zack is twenty-five. He should be working at his first serious job, settling down with somebody, maybe even have a kid or two already. Becky is eighteen. She should have just finished her first year in college and be griping about a summer job that she can't stand. Instead, look at them."

"I can't say that I'm not proud of them, though," Caroline said. "Look how tough they are. Look how much they have persevered through."

"I know," Dennis said. "I'd like to think that I'm tough and I know that you are too, but those two just blow us out of the water and I'm not just talking about their respective physical abilities." He smirked. "And from the intel that we were given, it looks like Zack might be settling down or at least be serious with a woman."

"That girl, Max," Caroline said. "I'm glad for him, and her too. If they find happiness together and some degree of normality within this whole mess, then good for them."

"I wonder if Becky has a boyfriend," Dennis said. He laughed. "Listen to us, just sitting here and wondering about the love lives of our children that we've never even met."

"And we're not even drunk," Caroline remarked.

"Yeah," Dennis said.

They were quiet for a few minutes. "Is it just me, Dennis, or do you get the impression that there's something in the intel that we were given about the transgenics and the intel about Zack and Becky and Max in particular, that's missing or just left out purposefully?" Caroline wondered. "What intel we actually were given is pretty impressive considering that the Manticore database is missing and presumed to have burned in the fire last year, but I've read everything over and over again since I was first given this assignment and I feel like there are a few gaps."

Dennis nodded thoughtfully. "I know what you mean. I've been getting that impression, myself." He thought for a few moments. "It's not exactly like there are chunks that are blatantly missing, but it's how a lot of it is worded. Like there's something more to it but they want to give a particular spin to everything." A thought occurred to him. "Or somebody in particular wants to give a particular spin to it."

"White? That self-righteous bastard?" Caroline guessed.

"It might be speculation and the fact that I just plain don't like the scumbag, but that's who I'd guess," Dennis said. "You've seen how he'd clam up when either of us would ask him a question about Zack or Becky or Max or even Alec?"

"And did you see the look in his eyes whenever we'd mention one of their names?" Caroline said. "I think they did something or more than one thing to personally piss him off." She smirked. "Good for them."

"Yeah," Dennis agreed. "White is also in a position where he could give us intel or alter it before it gets to us. He's got some kind of personal vendetta against the transgenics. He wants to hurt them. I've got to believe that he wants to use us to hurt them."

"Bastard," Caroline said. "Especially if he finds out about our relation to Zack and Becky. You don't think he knows, do you?"

"No, I don't think he does," Dennis said. "Those records are classified so highly, I'm not even sure if the President can access them without going though about ten million years of red tape. If he does know…he's sicker than we thought."

"I think he's plenty sick already," Caroline said. "I'm just glad he doesn't work side-by-side with us at the site and he has his own nice office in the Federal Building here in Seattle."

"You and me both," Dennis said.

"Are you okay?" Caroline asked.

"I will be," Dennis said.

"I don't want to hurt them," Caroline said. "I don't want that prick to hurt them. Losing family hurts, Dennis. It damn near killed me inside when I found out that my brother Chris had been killed in that accident when I was in my senior year of high school. My mom was killed two years ago in a plane crash and it almost killed me inside then, too. I don't want the same thing happening to Zack and Becky."

"It won't," Dennis vowed. "I lost both of my parents a few months after I graduated from West Point, I'm an only child, hell, the only family of mine not counting the kids that I know is living is my uncle Tommy and my cousin Cheryl. I don't have a lot of family, Caroline, and I'll be damned if something happens to the family I do have."

TBC

Notes: Thanks for the review and support, angelofdarkness78!


	24. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"So, when are Jondy and Wayne going on their date?" Becky asked Max as the two of them and Zack stood hidden in a building on sentry duty near the main gate of Terminal City.

"Later this week," Max said. "Jondy said that they're just going to eat dinner in her apartment." She zoomed in on the activity outside. "Not a whole lot happening. Your p—General Murphy and Colonel Robinson haven't arrived yet."

"It's still pretty early," Zack said. He checked his watch. "It's not even six o'clock yet. You told us that they usually show up around six and we've got about another ten minutes until they get here."

"Nervous?" Max teased.

"No, I mean Becky and I are only about to see the people who genetically are our parents for the first time," Zack said sarcastically. He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Maxie. I didn't mean to snap at you like that."

Max smiled and put a reassuring hand on Zack's shoulder. "It's okay, sweetie. I know how stressful this is for you. Don't worry."

"I'm glad that I've gotten to the point where I can at least add on their last names to their ranks and not just refer to them as 'the general' and 'the colonel,'" Becky said. She shuddered and picked up her rifle and examined it. "I'd sometimes refer to Lydecker as 'the colonel' when I was younger. The thought of classifying Colonel Robinson with Lydecker doesn't sit right, and I've never even met Colonel Robinson."

Zack smirked. "You can say that about most of the human population."

"True," Max admitted as both she and Becky laughed.

"I could think of so many people that I like more than Lydecker," Becky said as she continued to watch the activity outside. "Pretty much everybody except White and his freaky friends. Renfro's dead so I guess she doesn't count anymore." She was quiet for a moment. "I never liked Renfro very much before I found out that she was keeping the two of you separated and thinking that the other was dead back at Manticore. She always struck me as a sadistic bitch. She treated me personally the few times that I had face-to-face interaction with her as well as somebody like her could and would treat a transgenic, but I think that was because the two or three times I was personally speaking to her or being debriefed by her, Lydecker was in the room with us and she knew that I was Lydecker's best and she wanted to practically suck up to me to piss off Lydecker." She shuddered. "I hated being Lydecker's favorite, even as much as it was even in my nature to be competitive and to want to be the best. I don't know why Lydecker liked me as relatively much as he did because I know that he knew that I wanted to make a break for it after I got out of Psy Ops in September of 2009 but I couldn't because my family didn't want to leave. Go figure that one out."

"Hey, you can always ask Lydecker the next time we see him if we ever do," Max joked. "Just go up to him and say 'Hey, Deck. Before I smack you around because it's fun, would you please tell me why you treated me like the Manticore equivalent of a teacher's pet even though you were pretty much using my younger brothers and sisters to hold me hostage there since I was almost seven?'"

"I should do that if I ever see him again," Becky said, grinning. "If for no other reason than to see the look on his face. That would be something to see, wouldn't it?"

"Absolutely," Max said. "I've seen a few different expressions on Donald Lydecker's face by now. I've seen anger, I've seen pride, I've seen concern as freaky as it sounds, I've seen something bordering on love or lust when he was reminiscing about his late wife when he and I were in the Jeep waiting for his friend to get out of that strip club, and I've seen smugness. I still would love to see whatever shows up on his face if you ever ask him that question."

"That's—oh, shit," Zack said quietly as something caught his eye. He zoomed in and saw two vehicles pull up to the military camp. "I think they're here."

Max and Becky also grew quiet and they also zoomed in on the two vehicles and watched as Dennis got out of one and Caroline got out of the other. "Oh my God," Becky whispered as she saw her parents for the first time. "It's really real. They're really real."

"She has my eyes," Zack said in disbelief. "I mean, I have her eyes. I don't…what the…"

"It blows your mind, doesn't it?" Max guessed.

"I'll say," Zack agreed.

"I—I don't know what to think," Becky said. She felt overwhelmed. _It's true. Those are my biological parents. I know it. Deep down, I know that's the truth. They're as much a part of my blood as Zack is. They're here and they're real and…what the hell am I going to do?_

"I don't know what I'm going to do either," Zack said softly. Becky gave him an odd look and Zack shook his head. "I can't read minds, but I can take a good guess as to what you're thinking because I'm thinking the same thing."

"Whatever you're thinking, just remember that they're on our side," Max said. "If push comes to shove, remember what Krit and I overheard them talking about. They know that you are their kids and they don't want to hurt you or any of us."

Zack and Becky nodded. "Right," Zack said. He sighed. "I guess we'll just see what happens now." He continued to watch Dennis and Caroline. _They're here, we're here…what will happen now? For once, I don't have any answers or any plan. What's wrong with me?_

"Don't worry," Max said. "That's why I'm here." She looked at Zack reassuringly and Zack smiled back at her.

_That's one reason why I love this woman so much._

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much again, angelofdarkness78, for your reviews and support! Zack and Becky and Dennis and Caroline will be finally meeting up hopefully soon (there's a few things that I want to put in before they do) and I hope you love how I've got it planned, because it's going to be big. Speaking of which, I've also started a new fic in this whole series and it's being posted on my yahoo group. It's called 'A Taste of Everyday' and it's about Rena and part of her post-escape life between 'Where Were You?' and 'Together.' I hope you like it!


	25. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Wayne stopped in front of the door to Jondy's apartment. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door. He straightened his shirt and put on a big smile when Jondy opened the door. "Hey, there."

"Hey," Jondy said. She and Wayne both looked at each other up and down. "You look amazing."

"So do you," Wayne said honestly.

"Come in," Jondy said. She stepped aside so that Wayne could enter the apartment and when he did, she shut the door. "Dinner's just about ready. I hope that you like salmon. I know, that's probably a dumb question considering that we're part cat, but some of us only like certain kinds of fish. I know both Rena and Sasha can't stand mahi mahi but they both absolutely love tuna and Brin—"

"Jondy, relax," Wayne said. "You're starting to babble. I love salmon."

"Sorry," Jondy apologized. "I guess I haven't grown out of babbling when I'm really nervous."

"It's okay," Wayne said. _She's nervous? Fearless Jondy is actually nervous?_ "I'm a little nervous myself."

"Oh," Jondy said. She took a deep breath. "Well, I should put the salmon out on the table. Just sit down." She walked into the kitchen and took the salmon out of the oven where it had been broiling and started to set it out onto plates for herself and for Wayne. _Calm down, Jondy. It's just Wayne. It's only Wayne. He's only on this date with you because you lost that drinking contest to Syl! It doesn't matter that he looks like an absolute Greek god and it's too damn easy to picture him on a nude beach on the Mediterranean somewhere…damn, it's a good thing my heat is about a month off otherwise I'd be getting worried!_ She carried the two plates over to the table and set one down in front of Wayne. "Here you go. I hope you like it." She put down her own plate. "Do you want anything to drink? Milk, wine, anything?"

"Well, this is a date, so I guess wine," Wayne said, laughing a little. Jondy also laughed.

"I'll get it," Jondy said. "Is white wine okay? I don't like red wine all that much for some reason, but I love white wine."

"It's perfect," Wayne said. "I'm the same way."

_So we have similar tastes in wine and coffee and insane stunts…Max and Rena and Syl and Brin and Jace better not say a word!_ "Cool. I hope you don't mind this one. It's post-Pulse and it was fairly cheap, but it's all that the liquor store that Ralph and Kyle and I robbed yesterday had that looked halfway decent."

Wayne snorted. "Did you guys rob that liquor store just so that we could have wine to drink on our date?"

"No," Jondy said, laughing as she brought the bottle over to Wayne. "That does sound like something that one of us would do, though." She smirked as she handed the bottle over to Wayne so that he could uncork it. "We robbed the store so that we could re-stock Alec's personal supply of tequila and Everclear."

"I don't know why he even bothers with tequila," Wayne said. "He's been one of my best friends ever since I first moved here to Seattle, but I still don't understand it. It takes forever for someone like us to get a buzz off of that."

"Are you a lush?" Jondy teased.

"No, I just went to medical school with a bunch of drunks," Wayne said. "Seriously. The school I went to was one of the best in the South, but a whole bunch of the students that I went to it with were tanked at least 80 percent of the time. I can't count how many drinking contests I've seen and won with and against those guys." He shrugged. "Whatever."

"Yeah," Jondy said. Wayne poured himself a glass and then leaned over the table so that he could fill Jondy's glass. Jondy raised her glass and waited for Wayne to do the same. "Here's to us. May this date go well."

"To us," Wayne echoed. They clinked their wine glasses together and took a sip before they started to eat. Wayne took a few bites and looked surprised. "This is really good, Jondy! I can't believe you're this good of a cook."

"What, have the only X5 cooking you've eaten before has been Max and Brin's?" Jondy asked.

"I've had Max's before," Wayne admitted. "Once when Alec and I had gone over to her place after Jam Pony and we were just hanging around before the three of us plus Original Cindy were going to meet Krit and Syl and Becky and Jeff and Sketchy over at Crash and Alec and I were really hungry and Max had actually made some cookies, I think she later told me that it was because Syl had dared her to actually try something more complicated than a microwave dinner when Max had told her about her lack of cooking ability, and Alec and I snacked on them for a few minutes before we got sick of them. Let me just say that if they were spicy, they would have been mistaken for Cajun."

"Ah," Jondy said. "I see." She and Wayne continued to eat their salmon. "So am I the only one of us who can cook? I don't think that they taught us cooking before thirteen or fourteen because I never heard Zack or Tinga talk about it."

"What did Zack tell me?" Wayne said, trying to recall it. "Tinga cooked fairly well and Jace can actually cook really well. Maybe it's a mom thing. Once you become a mother, you learn how to cook. Hey, that means that there's hope for Brin's cooking skills!"

Jondy leaned over to try to punch Wayne in the shoulder and ended up with her face just an inch or two from his. What she had been planning on saying to him went out of her head. "Um…"

"Yeah," Wayne said slowly. Before either of them knew it, Wayne put his hands on either side of Jondy's face and was gently kissing her on the lips. Jondy responded to the kiss after a moment of shock and they remained liplocked, deepening the kiss and not parting until they both finally needed to breathe.

"Holy crap," Jondy said. "Wayne, I—"

"No, I'm sorry," Wayne said. "I shouldn't have made a move like that. I know that I've got a reputation that I'm a ladies man and that I'll go to bed with anything two-legged and female, but I don't want to be this bold this quickly with somebody that I care about and actually want to have a relationship with."

"You want to have a relationship with me?" Jondy said hopefully.

"Yeah," Wayne admitted. "I do. I want to make this work, Jondy. If I can help it, I want this to work for as long as possible." He looked down at the table for a moment. "I don't know exactly when I realized that I had feelings for you, but all I know is that I do and I want us to have something like Max and Zack have or like Sasha and Biggs. I mean, we'll work our way up to that if you want to."

"Now who's babbling when they are nervous?" Jondy teased softly.

Wayne grinned. "We have so many things in common, let's add one more to the list. What the hell."

"What the hell," Jondy echoed. She grinned back at Wayne and leaned forward for another kiss.

TBC

Notes: angelofdarkness78, thank you so much again! Keep an eye out in the coming chapters for Joshua, White, resolved issues, and meetings :)


	26. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared in it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Notes: Slight spoiler-ish stuff for "Love Among the Runes."

"Can you hand me that part?" Becky asked Dalton as they were fixing weapons in the armory a month later.

"Yeah, sure," Dalton said. He passed Becky the part that she had asked for. "Here you go."

"Thanks," Becky said. She screwed the part onto the gun that she'd been working on and sighted with it. "Yep, that looks good to me." She set the gun down and turned to Dalton. "Look, Dalton, I've been watching you when you're around Karen and I want to talk to you about it."

"Becky, I get along fine with Karen. I always have," Dalton said.

"Dalton…" Becky paused. _How do I say this without sounding like a complete nag? I guess I can't._ "I—"

"Great, you guys can save me from the lecture that Becky was about to give me," Dalton said as Kevin and Brent and Liesel entered the room. "Either that or you can join in or get it too."

"Calm down," Becky said.

"What lecture?" Brent asked.

"Sit down, please," Becky said. "I've seen how you guys are acting when you're around Karen and it's only gotten worse. I know how Karen still feels about Manticore and I know how you guys feel about it but you can't let it come between you guys. We're family. We need to stick together."

"What, are you on Karen's side now?" Liesel asked. "Are you going to be all 'I love Manticore?'"

"No," Becky said. "You guys know how much I've always hated Manticore and how I still hate the fucking place, even though it's been just over a year since it burned to the ground. What I'm saying is that I know how close we all were and since we've all been reunited here in Terminal City and Karen made her opinion about Manticore known to us, I've seen us slowly start to splinter apart from her. I've seen Maggie give Karen dirty looks behind her back, I've seen you two guys try to stay as far away from Karen as you can, even when you're in the same room having a conversation with her, and Liesel, I've seen how you try to pick a fight with her whenever you get the opportunity to. I've seen Karen refuse to acknowledge Felicia's existence and I've seen her blow off Kyle and Xavier when they mention something anti-Manticore when they're talking to her. It's driving me crazy. I can't stand it when we're fighting like this."

"I didn't know you felt this way about it," Kevin said. "I didn't even realize that I was reacting that way around Karen."

"Look, all I'm asking is that—" Becky was cut off by her cell phone ringing. She took it out of her pocket and answered it. "Dix, what is it?"

"I'm sending Frick and Dane over to relieve you and Dalton immediately," Dix said. "They should get there at any moment. Ralph and Layla just came back from the heist that they pulled. Something apparently went wrong and they came back without Karen."

"We're on our way," Becky said. She and Kevin and Dalton and Brent and Liesel immediately left the armory, passing the two anomalies that Dix had sent to replace Becky and Dalton on the way out. They quickly reached the main building and went into the control room. Ralph and Layla stood by Dix and Luke and they looked worse for the wear. Jeff stood with them, trying to calm them down. Becky waited a moment for Kyle and Maggie and Felicia and Matt and Xavier to get there. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Ralph said. "Our recon and intel was good. The three of us got to the jewelry store and entered it as we had planned. I don't know, it's like somebody was lying in wait for us. It must have been a trap, Becky. It had to have been."

"I should have known it was too good to be true," Layla said. "That shipment of rare diamond pieces suddenly coming in? Damnit, I should have known!"

"Calm down, it's okay," Becky said. "Those Familiar bastards obviously aren't completely clueless. I've found that out the hard way myself. What happened to Karen? When and how did she get separated from the two of you?"

"They started to fire on us and we turned around and ran," Layla said. "We'd almost gotten back to the car that we'd taken to the site when two other men jumped out and tried to fight us. I fought one off solo and Ralph and Karen teamed up on the other. Then more jumped at us and we somehow, I don't know how, managed to fight them off as well and when the dust had settled, so to speak, Ralph and I looked around to make sure that there weren't any more of them out there. There weren't, but Karen was missing. Then we heard a car door slam and a car speed off and we realized that she must have been knocked out or incapacitated somehow during that last fight and was captured by them. I'm so sorry, Becky."

"You did the best that you could, Layla. You too, Ralph," Becky assured them. "I don't blame either of you in the slightest. The only person to blame here is Ames White and his fucked up friends."

"Good news," Luke said. "Remember the tracking transmitters that I put together that I had to twist everybody's arm to get them to use when they went out to do recon or to pull heists of some kind? I finally got a solid signal on Karen's."

"Where is she?" Becky asked.

"Heading southeast of Seattle," Luke said. He was focused intently on his computer monitor. "I can't be sure of her status, though."

Becky nodded and turned to her remaining brothers and sisters, her grey eyes as cold and hard as steel. "Get your gear. We're moving out." She turned back to Dix and Luke. "Sent the data from Karen's transmitter to comm. and surveillance van A. We're going to take that one."

"Will do and you know where the keys are," Dix said.

"Can we go?" Ralph asked hopefully.

"No," Jeff said immediately. He looked at Becky, who nodded in understanding, before he turned back to his sisters. "You two just got the hell beaten out of you. You're not 100 percent and I don't want to risk your lives by going out on a rescue mission of this caliber when you're not at full strength."

"Call us if you need anything," Layla said.

"We will," Becky promised. She turned back to her siblings. "When you've got everything, meet me in the garage by comm. and surveillance van A. We'll move out when everybody's assembled." She blurred back to her apartment and got in and went inside her bedroom and grabbed her pistol and her favorite automatic weapon and her black jacket. She heard Maggie enter while she was getting her things together and waited until Maggie had gotten her own gear. The two of them left the apartment together and headed straight to the van. Becky put her jacket on and zipped it up while she waited for the others. They showed up quickly and they got into the van and left Terminal City.

Felicia and Xavier took their seats at the equipment while Kyle drove. They put the headsets that were next to their keyboards on and got to work. "I've got the feed," Felicia reported to Dix and Luke. She turned to her siblings. "They're still heading southeast."

"I've got the tracking and pursuit program running," Xavier said. "It's being sent to your console now, Kyle."

"Got it," Kyle reported.

They drove in silence for close to an hour until Karen's signal finally stopped in one place. They continued on for another hour until they pulled up a half a mile short of an abandoned factory. Kyle drove the van to a hard-to-detect spot and parked it and undid his seatbelt and turned around and joined the others. "What's the plan, Becky?"

"I'll know in two minutes," Becky said as she watched Felicia and Xavier work at their equipment to get a visual on the building and the surrounding area. She sighed as she grabbed the earpieces that were in the van and passed them around before she took one for herself and put it in. "I hate rush jobs. I hope that we don't have to pull one off. I don't want to risk Karen's life."

"I don't think that we have much of a choice about it," Xavier said grimly as he tapped into the security cameras that were inside the building. "There's our Number One Bad Guy and he's using Karen as a punching bag. Audio's coming up."

They listened intently as the audio feed started running. "…what, an X6 can't take punishment? I guess not all of you are quite as sickeningly resilient as that stupid bitch 405." Becky's eyes narrowed at the insult, but she didn't say anything. Karen didn't say anything either. She just glared at White through the eye that wasn't swelling shut. "Oh, I guess you really don't like to talk." He punched Karen in the stomach. "Does that hurt, you filthy little animal? Huh, you disgusting little bitch?" He sighed in disgust. "You're no fun."

"You're right, Xavier, we don't have a choice," Becky said grimly. "Okay, here's the plan. Felicia and Xavier continue on comm. and surveillance duty. Maggie, stay behind in the van in case we need to make a hot exit. Kevin, find a tree and set up for sniper duty. How many people, if any, in the building with Karen and White?"

"We're lucky. I'm counting only two other people," Xavier said. "That's in the entire building. I'm tapped into every single camera that's set up in there."

"Good," Becky said. "Kyle and Matt are going in with me. Brent, Dalton, Liesel, stay outside and spread out and give us cover if we need it. Stay sharp and alert at all times. So far, the ones that we've encountered have had X5-level strength and speed and in some cases, reflexes as well and they do not feel any pain, but their hearing and sight range is down at normal. That is your advantage, so use it if you need to. We don't know if there are other Familiars with other talents here, but so far the ones that we've encountered in these situations are ones like White. Everybody got it?"

"We got it," they all said.

Becky nodded. "Good. Let's move out."

Everybody except for Maggie and Felicia and Xavier left the van. They quietly snuck closer to the building. Kevin gestured to Becky, who looked up and nodded before he climbed up a thick tree and began to put together his sniper rifle. The others moved on until they got even closer to the building. Becky made a few other gestures and Liesel and Brent and Dalton fanned out and surrounded the building while she and Kyle and Matt continued on. When the three of them reached the building, she made a few other gestures and Kyle and Matt separated from her, both of them moving to enter the building from different points. Becky took a deep breath and walked up to the front door of the building. She stood there with one ear against the door, listening carefully for noises before she quietly opened the door and went inside, holding her automatic in front of her.

"Look who showed up," White said, holding is own gun in front of him. He was genuinely surprised. "I didn't expect to see you here, 405. I didn't know that you knew 367 here. She didn't mention it but then again, she hasn't been a model chatterbox since she got here, has she?"

"My name is Becky," she reminded him. "Her name is Karen and you are going to let her go right now. Do I have to remind you of what happened the last time I went along on a rescue mission?"

White's expression darkened. "I'm quite aware of it, 405. What I'm wondering is are you aware of how close I am to you and how I don't think that even you could dodge a bullet at this range?"

Becky laughed mirthlessly. "My reflexes are faster than Karen's and they're faster than those of an X5 and yours. Do you really want to test that fact out? Like I said, remember what happened the last time we got up close and personal?"

"I do remember," White said. Before Becky could say or do anything else, he fired a shot directly and Becky's heart. Becky threw herself to the ground, but wasn't quite quick enough to be unscathed and she hissed in pain as the bullet hit her in the right shoulder. But before White could do anything, she kicked out and swept his legs out from underneath him, knocking him to the ground and stunning him. She grabbed Karen and pulled her towards the door.

"Everybody, package is wrapped and we're heading out. Evac, now! Is everybody okay?" She sighed in relief as everybody checked in and reported that they were fine. She and Karen reached the van and got inside. Kevin had gotten to the van first and had switched places with Maggie, who went back to check on Karen and Becky. "Take a look at Karen first."

Maggie nodded and reached into her bag and pulled out a lighter, a knife, and a pair of tweezers and tossed all three items to Kyle. "Get that bullet out of Becky's shoulder while I check Karen over."

"Gotcha," Kyle said. He leaned over Becky's shoulder and got to work. "Let me know if it hurts badly."

"I will," Becky said. She winced as Kyle got the bullet out and cauterized the wound and looked over at Maggie and Karen. She noticed their demeanors towards each other and how worried the others looked. Even Kevin snuck occasional concerned glances at them in the rearview mirror. She smiled faintly.

Kyle noticed the look on Becky's face as he bandaged her shoulder. "What is it?"

"I think things might be getting better," Becky said. "Maybe."

* * *

White picked himself up off the floor and groaned. _That fucking bitch got me again!_ He looked at the small puddle of Becky's blood on the floor in front of him that had resulted from the gunshot would he had inflicted on her and smirked. _At least this time I got her! It's good to know that at least she didn't get away unscathed._ He started to turn around to ask one of his men to clean up the mess when his cell phone rang. He took it out of his pocket, looked at the number, and answered it. "Fenos'tol. What is it, Stephen? It better be big considering how late it is."

"It's potentially huge," Stephen said. "You're either going to get a good laugh out of it, hate it, or both. My other contacts were finally able to get through to General Murphy and Colonel Robinson's full records and according to them, they both made a donation of their respective reproductive cells to Manticore on November 27th, 1993."

"They're connected to Manticore?" White asked.

"Not in the sense that Colonel Lydecker was," Stephen said. "As a matter of fact, their service records indicate that they were assigned to places far from any of the three Manticore facilities and their field assignments had nothing to do with Manticore. Didn't utilize any transgenics, nothing."

"Pardon me for being slow right now. That bitch 405 just barged in on me, snatched the X6 that some of our brothers captured, and knocked me for a loop," White said. "Though I did shoot her in the shoulder. Anyway, so they weren't administratively connected to Manticore after their donation so their only connection was the donations so…Manticore successfully used what General Murphy and Colonel Robinson gave them?"

"Absolutely. Not only once, but twice as a matter of fact." White knew his friend well enough to almost hear the grin Stephen had to have on his face at that moment. "This is the either funny or bad part. And considering what you just told me, very coincidental."

White was silent for a moment before it dawned on him what Stephen was going to tell him. "405's biological parents."

"And 599's as well," Stephen said. "They're full brother-and-sister."

In spite of his anger towards Becky, White laughed. "That is funny." He sighed. "We should confirm this before we take any steps to acting on it in some way. I want to wait a little bit before we act on this information, anyway. Lull them into a false sense of security, etc."

"That makes sense," Stephen said. "How do you want to confirm this?"

White looked down at the puddle of Becky's blood and grinned nastily. "How else?"

* * *

Becky and the others went straight to the control room in Terminal City so they could fill Dix, Luke, Jeff, Ralph, and Layla in on what had happened. When she got there, she saw that not only were they there, but also Max and Zack and their family, plus Alec and Biggs and Sasha. She saw the look on Zack's face and couldn't help wincing.

"Are you okay?" he asked calmly. _Should I hug her because I'm relieved that she's fine other than the shoulder, or should I try to strangle her because she went out and did get hurt?_

"I'm fine," Becky assured him. "We all got away. Karen and I were the only ones who were injured. It went as well as—okay, maybe not quite as well as it could have, but better than it could have."

"I know," Zack said. "You're all alive and that's what matters."

"White still his usual pissy self?" Alec asked.

"Of course," Becky said. "Would he be anything else?"

"I don't know," Max said. "I'd personally doubt it." She shrugged and then something caught her eye and she abruptly lifted her right hand up so she could see it better. She blinked in surprise at the dark, odd-shaped marks that had suddenly appeared on her skin. "What the hell?"

TBC


	27. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Becky sat alone in the kitchen of her apartment just after dawn two days later, staring at her coffee mug. Maggie had gotten up and was out already. Most of the rest of her brothers and sisters, Zack included, were still sleeping, so she didn't have anybody to talk to. She looked up when she heard a knock at the front door. "Who is it?"

"It's me," Karen said. She sounded a little nervous. "Can I come in?"

"Of course," Becky said. "The door's open." She heard Karen opening the door and she walked into the living room to meet her. "Hey, there. How did the heist you did with Max go?"

"Perfectly," Karen said. "Much better than the one two nights ago." She set the bag that she was holding down on Becky's coffee table. "Can we talk?"

"Absolutely," Becky said. She and Karen sat down on the couch. "What is it?"

"Becky, I want to apologize for everything," Karen said. "I know that I've been acting like a bitch about Manticore since I've been here in Terminal City and I know how much friction it caused with everybody until you guys got me away from White. I am so sorry."

"It's okay," Becky said. "Karen, don't worry. We all still love you. You're our sister."

Karen nodded. "I know. I'm still sorry." She closed her eyes for a moment. "It's hard letting go of something that you've believed in for your entire life when it turns out to be one big lie, you know what I mean? Every single day, it was 'Duty,' 'Mission,' 'Discipline' nonstop. Wake up, straighten out our bunks, go to breakfast, train, etc., everything seemed so straightforward and simple. There were hard times, but you guys were there. Then the '09—I mean, Max and Zack and all of them escaped and you were taken away to Psy Ops and it was the first real jolt that I'd had that maybe something wasn't okay. But then they kept on telling us that everything was okay and that the ones who'd escaped were the wrong ones and all of that and after awhile, I completely believed it. Things had gone back to normal so they must have been right, you know? So life went on. It hurt when 956 died and it hurt when I believed that Felicia had been taken away and killed. I never believed that she had fired that shot even before 427 confessed. I believed you when you said when we'd been dismissed that Felicia had been with you the whole time. So life still goes on and everything's fine. Then the fire happened. I assumed that we were under attack by somebody and then when Max had unlocked the cell doors and you said that she'd let us out and that Renfro tried to kill all of us…"

"It blew your mind," Becky said.

"It did," Karen confirmed. "It was one of the few times in my life that I was completely confused. Here was my older sister, my commanding officer, the girl that I'd looked up to since I could remember, saying that the Director had tried to kill all of us and that the unit that we'd been taught to hate for over eleven years were the good guys all along. I've believed you my whole life but right then I didn't know what to believe. I still had faith in you so I did what you asked and I went to ground. I didn't pair up or group up with any of the others until I met up with Dalton and Matt and Liesel and Brent when I got back into Seattle the day before the five of us reached Terminal City. I wasn't sure if I wanted to be around any of the others at that point, you know? I just needed time alone with my thoughts."

"I don't blame you for wanting to get your thoughts together," Becky said.

"So I met back up again with Brent, Liesel, Dalton, and Matt and I was thrilled to see them," Karen said. "I was even happier when I realized that the four of them were also heading for Terminal City. I guess I was lonelier that I'd thought I'd been. Then I saw you and everybody else and it was the happiest that I'd been since before the fire. But then you said that Felicia was still alive and she was there and I felt like the thoughts in my head, which might have finally begun to settle down again since we left Manticore, just fly apart again. More than anything, maybe even than the fire, Felicia was proof that pretty much everything that I'd believed in was a lie. I didn't want to admit it yet. You know how stubborn I can be at times. I didn't want to admit it, so I avoided Felicia like the plague and I tried to stick to my faith in Manticore, but it was broken. Like I said, I didn't want to admit it."

Becky saw the look on Karen's face. "I won't ever tell you 'I told you so.' I'd never say that to you. You needed to come to this conclusion on your own. We all did. You do know now that everything's cool between you and everybody again that Kevin and some of the others will tease you for awhile that he beat you in something, but you know how competitive they are."

"Oh yeah," Karen said. She laughed.

"So, anything else that you want to talk to me about?" Becky asked.

"Not really, nothing major like that," Karen said. "You?"

"Yeah," Becky said. "Zack and I are brother and sister. I didn't want to tell you before but now…what do you think?"

Karen thought about it and smiled. "Cool. Oh before I forget, I brought you a piece offering that I got when Max and I were out on our heist tonight. I knew that you would accept my apology, but I wanted to be certain."

"Okay," Becky said, laughing a little. "I'm not usually into presents, but I haven't gotten many either. What is it?"

"This," Karen said. She reached into the bag that she'd brought with her and handed something to Becky.

Becky's eyes widened as she held out the brand-new black leather jacket in front of her. "This is gorgeous! I love it, Karen."

"I'm glad you do," Karen said. "Max helped me pick it out for you." She smirked. "She said that since you're eighteen, you're old enough to wear leather."

"Yeah," Becky said, laughing. She tried the jacket on. "It fits perfectly. Thank you so much again, Karen." She took the jacket off and carefully draped it over the arm of the couch.

"You're welcome," Karen said. "Do you have any breakfast? I'm hungry."

"I was just having some coffee, but I haven't eaten yet," Becky said. "Cafeteria?"

"Sure," Karen said. The two of them got up and left the apartment.

TBC


	28. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Max crept into her and Zack's apartment after getting back from the raid that she'd gone on with Karen. _It's nice to be able to have a partner along and still be able to do some extra recon before pulling off the heist and to take your time when pulling it off. If there's one thing I've learned since I pretty much made being a cat burglar my unofficial job, it's to take your time when doing a heist. Let's hear it for shark DNA! That reminds me, maybe Jondy will go along with me next time. I hope Karen's apology to Becky and later the others go okay. No, I know it will go okay. I know Becky and I've seen how the others in their family have been getting along with Karen since they rescued her from White. I know things will be okay with them now._

She listened for any noises in the apartment, but the only thing she heard was the soft, regular sound of Zack's breathing. _He's still asleep. I guess he got to bed a little bit later than when he usually does. Time for me to go wake him up!_ She walked into their bedroom and looked over at Zack and smiled. _He's so innocent when he's sleeping…and so damn sexy!_ She walked up next to the side of the bed that Zack was sleeping on, leaned over him, and kissed him on the lips. Zack woke up and without missing a beat, responded to the kiss and pulled Max on top of him. They deepened the kiss, but as Zack tried to roll over so that he would be on top of Max, they fell off the bed and landed with a thump on the floor.

"Damn," Zack swore. "Are you okay, Maxie?"

"I'm fine," Max said, laughing. "Don't worry. Are you okay, Zack?"

"I'm fine," Zack said. He shook his head and sat up and brushed some dust off of his boxers. "I'm going to go get changed."

"You want me to help you?" Max asked suggestively.

Zack started to say something, but his stomach growled and he sighed. "No, unfortunately. I'd ordinarily wouldn't mind, but I'm too damn hungry this morning."

"Okay, I'll wait for you in the living room and we can go over to the cafeteria to get some breakfast," Max said. She kissed him on the cheek. "Good morning. I love you."

"I love you, too," Zack said. He gave Max a quick kiss and then they got up and Max went into the living room to wait for Zack. He was dressed in only a few minutes and they left their apartment and walked over to the cafeteria. They went inside and grabbed some trays and got some food. Max looked around and saw Becky and Karen sitting at a table together, talking and laughing.

"That's definitely a good sign," Max said. She and Zack walked over to the two X6s. "Mind if we sit down with you?"

"Nope, go ahead," Karen said. "It's nice to see you guys."

"It's great to see you too," Max said.

"You can take those gloves off, Max," Becky observed. "We're only eating breakfast, not riding our motorcycles."

"I know, I know," Max grumbled. She took her leather gloves off. "Those damn things are still on my hands. Not only there, but I've spotted them on other parts of my body. And yes, Becky, I spotted them and not Zack. We are not that bad."

"Not that bad? Kevin and Kyle told me that just about half of the time they see the two of you, you're always giggling or you're acting stupid like you just got laid," Karen said.

"I refuse to dignify that with an answer," Max said.

"Whatever," Karen said. She started to shrug, but then saw the markings on Max's hands. "Those are weird."

"You didn't notice them when you and Becky and the rest of your family got back to Terminal City and met up with us in the control room after the rescue?" Max asked.

"No," Karen said. "I was pretty out of it. Maggie gave me a painkiller injection while we were on our way back."

"It was the same stuff that she gave me after I took the Dumpster Dive back in August," Becky said.

"Dumpster Dive?" Karen repeated.

"Yeah. It was my first major meeting with White," Becky said. As she was telling Karen the story of what had happened that night, Joshua came over to them and sat down on Max's other side.

"Hey, Max," he said.

"Hey, Joshua," Max said cheerfully. "Karen, this is Joshua. He's the first transgenic that was created. Joshua, this is Karen, one of Becky's siblings.

Joshua nodded. "Please to meet you." He sniffed. "Cat and shark, like Max."

"Yep, like Max," Karen agreed. "You're just canine?"

"Yep," Joshua said. "A little too much in my cocktail." He started to eat, but then the markings on Max's hands caught his eye. "Your runes."

"Runes?" Max repeated.

"Like in Father's books," Joshua said.

The other four were confused. "What books? Do you know what these are, Joshua?" Zack asked.

"Those are runes," Joshua said. "Father told me. He never taught me to read them, but I saw him reading a book written in those runes." He frowned. "Wait, not a book. A journal."

"So there might be some way to find out exactly what they are and why they're on my skin?" Max asked hopefully. "Finally! Do you know where this journal or journals might be, Josh?"

"Probably Father's house," Joshua said. "His house is here in Seattle. He took me there a few times when I was young. I'll never forget it."

"We should go there and try to recover these journals," Max said.

"Can I come too?" Joshua asked hopefully.

The other four exchanged worried looks. "If you do, we'll have to try to keep your face hidden until we get inside the house," Zack warned. "If the public sees you, it'll be a disaster."

Joshua nodded. "Joshua knows. I've seen the news on TV. I'll be careful."

"Then let's get to the boys in Control when we're done and start planning this bitch," Max said satisfactorily.

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much again, angelofdarkness78! If anybody is interested, I'll be starting to put up the fic about Caroline, "Thwarted Dreams", up on my website soon. Check it out and let me know what you think!


	29. Chapter 28

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"We're back," Max said as she, Zack, Joshua, Becky, Karen, Jeff, and Krit walked back into the control room in Terminal City late that afternoon, each of them carrying at least one box.

"And you even brought presents," Dix remarked. "What exactly do you have there?"

"Father's books," Joshua said. "Most of them. Some medical, some not. Some other things and some stuff for me to keep."

"That's good," Dix said. "What about the journal that Josh mentioned?"

"That's in my box," Max said. She put it down on the floor, opened it, and handed it to Dix. "When Joshua found it back at the house, he found a CD inside. I don't know what's on it. It isn't labeled."

"Maybe it's something that we can use one way or another," Dix said. "It doesn't hurt to check it out." He opened the journal and found the CD case stuck between the cover and the first page. He took it out of the book and opened it and put the CD into one of the DVD-ROM drives on his computer and waited for it to load. He nodded when a window popped up after a few seconds. "We've got a video file here and a word processor file. I'm opening the video file first."

"Why the video file first?" Krit asked.

"Because it's actually labeled 'Video—open first'," Dix said.

Max rolled her eyes and smacked Krit across the back of his head before she and the others went to stand behind Dix so they could see the video play. "Let's see what this file is."

"Not a problem," Dix said. He double-clicked on the file and a window came up. A man in his early-to-mid sixties was sitting in a chair at a desk. Immediately, Joshua's eyes widened in recognition.

"That's Father," he said. "Father made this."

"At least we know what the guy looks like," Max said.

"Hello, all of you," he said. "I am recording this video file on the night of June 8th, 2020."

"What the hell?" Zack said in surprise. "That's the night that Manticore burned down."

"I have to make this for you because I know that the time will come within the next year or so for this to be needed and I do not know when or if I will get another opportunity to record this," he continued. "There is so much that I wish that I could tell you, but I can't. There is still plenty to inform you about, so I will do just that." He took a deep breath, his expression serious. "This will come as a shock to all of you, but I was born a part of a breeding cult known as the Familiars. You might have heard of them already. We were bred for millennia to be superior to other humans. For most of the cult's existence, we have been guided by a prophecy. Basically, this prophecy has indicated the eradication of what the Familiars refer to as the 'inferior' human race and the survival of only the Familiars."

Dix hit pause. "Ouch. That's got to suck."

"Yeah, but what does this have to do with us?" Max wondered.

Dix hit play and Father continued to talk. "The Familiars believed in this prophecy. They became firmly convinced that they would outlast the inferior humans. What they did not know is that they only found an incomplete version of the prophecy. Some of our Brothers and Sisters came across the full, true version of the prophecy and followed that secretly. I was one of the group who believed in the true prophecy. When the time and the technology was right, I set about to make sure that it happened."

"Time and technology?" Becky repeated when Dix hit pause again. "Us? We're somehow connected to this whole prophecy mess?"

"Maybe," Max said. "Let's see if we are." They waited for Dix to continue playing the video, which he did.

"I was interested in science my whole life," Father continued. "I especially excelled in genetics. I quickly earned my degrees and went to work in genetic research. After some experimentation, I realized that the time was approaching for what I had to do. I was trying to figure out exactly how to go about completing my task when I was approached by members of the government. They wanted to start a genetic engineering project to create soldiers and knew how advanced my work was in that area and wanted me to be in charge, the top scientist. I knew it would be the perfect opportunity for me so I joined them and I helped to create Manticore."

"I told you," Joshua said.

"We know," Max said.

"You kids…I wish that I could tell you more about the prophecy, but I can't. All I can tell you is that there were others of the cult who shared my beliefs about the prophecy and were placed within Manticore at various points in time to help you and make sure that you all stayed safe, as safe as you could at any rate." He sighed sadly. "I did not agree with most of the methods that they used and it pained me to see you being pushed so hard at such a young age. I knew it was for the greater good, but I still didn't like to see all of you like that." He sighed again. "There should be a file in this CD along with this video. Everything else that you will need to know is on that CD. I've sacrificed a lot for you. My relationship with my son, who believed in the version of the prophecy that the majority of the Familiars did, my work at Manticore, so much I have given up. But I have all the faith in the world in you and I know that you will come through."

"That's it," Dix said as the video ended. He closed the window and opened up the other file. "Holy crap, this looks like a translation program for those runes that are on Max's skin."

"At least this guy thought of everything," Zack said.

"Yeah, he did," Dix said. "Okay, Max, are the runes just on your hand?"

"No," Max admitted. "There are some on my shoulder blades and my upper arms and on my hips. They started showing up the same night as the ones on my hand did."

"Hmmm," Dix said. They sat in thoughtful silence for a moment. "Can one of you take some pictures of all of the runes for her? It'll be easier for me to translate them that way."

"I'll do it," Zack said.

"Good," Dix said. He got up, walked over to some shelves of various computer accessories, and took a digital camera and tossed it over to Zack, who caught it easily.

"Thanks," Zack said. He turned the camera over to examine it when he jumped in surprise. "Okay, what's going on here?" He saw runes similar to the ones on Max on his own right hand.

"Isn't that sweet, they have matching runes," Becky teased.

"Um, Becky?" Zack said. He pointed to her hand.

"Yeah, what?" Becky said. She looked at her hand and her eyes widened in shock. "Oh great, me too?"

"How quickly did the other runes show up on you, Max?" Dix asked.

"Pretty quickly," Max said. "Like when I went back to the apartment with Zack and we—well, they were there."

"Then if there's more on Becky and me, it'll show up by the time that we get back to our apartments," Zack finished. "Let's get this done."

"Yeah," Becky said. "The sooner the better."

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much again for the reviews and support, angelofdarkness78!


	30. Chapter 29

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Notes: I made a goof on the last chapter. I had Father/Sandeman say that the video clip was recorded on June 8th, 2021 to which Zack said that it was the night that Manticore burned down. I meant it to be June 8th, 2020. My bad :) Anyway, I corrected it.

White yawned as he made his way down the stairs of his home. He walked into the kitchen and gave Wendy a kiss on the cheek. "Good morning."

"Good morning, sweetie," she said. "The coffee just finished brewing and I poured you a mug just the way you like it. It's on the table."

"Thank you," White said. He turned and saw the steaming mug sitting on the table and walked over and picked it up and took a sip before he sat down at the table. "That's perfect."

"I'm glad you like it," Wendy said. "How do you want your eggs this morning? Scrambled, sunny side up, over easy?"

"Sunny side up is fine," White said. He sat back and watched his pregnant wife make his breakfast. _Did I get lucky to have been paired up with somebody like her. She's good-looking, not that it matters in the grand scheme of things but it's always a plus, she knows how to cook, she's patient, and she's not annoying. I hope that the Conclave doesn't order me to kill her after our son is born. Not that it would matter that much to me really, but it would be nice to have help to raise the baby and it would look good on the job to have a wife as well as a child. The public still loves the family image._

"What are you thinking about?" Wendy asked when she noticed the thoughtful look on White's face.

"You," White said.

"Awww," Wendy said. She leaned down and gave White a kiss before she slid the cooked eggs onto a plate and put the plate down in front of White. "Toast? We ran out of grape jelly yesterday and I couldn't run out to the store, so all we have is butter and strawberry jam."

"Just butter is fine," White said. Wendy quickly made the toast and put it and the butter down in front of him before she sat down across from him at the table.

"Got another full day ahead of you?" she asked.

White nodded. "I have to check in at the military camp outside of Terminal City before I get to the office again. I need another update on that situation because I need to send a report to Franklin by the time I leave work this evening. Other than that, it's pretty much going to be status quo."

"I know you don't like the General that's in charge of the military camp and I'm proud of you for sucking it up and working with him anyway when you need to," Wendy said.

"You sound just like a mother," White teased.

"Well, I have to get practice in on somebody," Wendy replied. They both laughed and White ate and Wendy sipped the juice that she had poured for herself earlier. "I've got a fairly light day planned. I'm going to go to the supermarket soon after you leave and then just do some cleaning around the house. Do you want anything specific for dinner tonight? I was thinking of making pork chops tonight, but if you want something different I could make it another night."

"Pork chops sound fantastic," White assured her. He looked at the clock on the wall and stood up and gave Wendy a kiss. "I've got to get going to work now. I love you."

"I love you, too," Wendy said.

"'Bye," White said. He finished his mug of coffee, put it and his empty plate in the sink, and left his house. He got in his car and drove over towards Terminal City. _Yeah, Wendy is great. _He sighed. _Now I've got to deal with 599 and 405's parents for awhile. I wonder how they'd take it if they knew that they had two pieces of filth for children? That'd be something. I hope that the results of the DNA testing with 405's blood come in soon so we'd have concrete proof._ He drove along until he finally got close to Terminal City and parked his car and walked up to the military camp and up to Dennis and Caroline. "General Murphy, Colonel Robinson."

"Agent White," Dennis greeted. He held out a folder to White. "Here's the information that you requested for your report to your superior."

"Thank you," White said. He accepted the folder from Dennis. "Nothing new?"

"No, not a thing," Caroline said. "You know that we'll let you know if something comes up." _Unfortunately._

"Of course," White said. "I'll be checking in again at some point later. Thank you again." He nodded to them and walked back to his car. No sooner had he gotten in and put the key in the ignition than his cell phone rang. He looked at the number and answered it. "Fenos'tol."

"Fenos'tol," the voice on the other end said. "We've got the results in from the testing."

"Good," White said, relieved. "What are they?"

"You need to come here and see them for yourself," the other person said urgently. "Trust me."

"All right, I will be there in fifteen minutes. Fenos'tol." He disconnected and started the car and drove off. He drove until he got to a building just south of the city and parked the car and went inside. A woman in a white lab coat greeted him. "Fenos'tol, Sister Mitchell."

"Fenos'tol, Brother White," she replied. "The results of the testing we performed did confirm the genetic link between 405 and General Murphy and Colonel Robinson and in so confirmed it for 599 as well."

"Then what was so urgent that I needed to come here?" White wondered.

"This is," the woman said. She led White to her office and gestured to a folder that was sitting on top of the desk. "When we were performing the tests, we noticed something unusual with 405's blood, unusual as in other than the fact that she's transgenic scum. We took the liberty of running a full DNA analysis on 405's blood and the results are in the folder. See for yourself. Nobody was notified yet."

White picked up the folder and opened it. He read the contents and his eyes grew wide with fury. "Son-of-a-bitch!" He dropped the folder back on the desk and picked up his cell phone and dialed a number. "Fenos'tol. Put phase one of the plan that we talked about the other night into effect. I'll call you back when I want phase two to happen." He disconnected and then immediately dialed another number. "Fenos'tol. I have some urgent and distressing news…"

TBC


	31. Chapter 30

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Notes: Spoilers and spoiler-ish stuff for "Freak Nation."

They met in the conference room in the main building Terminal City. Max and Zack sat nervously near the head of the table. Becky sat close to them, not looking too much calmer herself. The others were scattered around the room. Finally, Dix came in the room and sat down next to Max.

"I finished decoding the runes," he said. "This is freaky."

"Freaky how?" Max said.

"The runes on your back and that whole area of your body are basically the whole prophecy that this Father was talking about," Dix said. "The whole entire thing goes 'When the shroud of death covers the Earth, the one whose power is hidden will deliver the helpless. A great sickness will envelope the Earth, leaving behind only a select few, but it will be stopped by The Chosen One. The Chosen One will not be alone in this task. In addition to the others who will support and help her, she will be joined by two other perfect ones, The Guardian of The One and The Decoy. Three people, two connected by blood and two connected by love. Both The One and The Decoy are born on the day that the spirits come forth and The Guardian has already proven how far he is willing to go to protect The One. The final chain of events will be set in motion once the blood of The Decoy is in the hands of the enemy and she is uncovered and after The One and The Guardian unite. When The One has defeated The Dark One before the sickness can be unleashed, the shroud will be lifted, not only from the helpless but from whom The Dark One belongs to."

"That's some prophecy," Zack said after a moment of silence.

"Born on the day that the spirits come forth…Halloween. Becky and me?" Max said.

"Oh shit, one of us is supposed to save the world?" Becky said.

"Scared?" Zack said.

"No, I'm not scared," Becky insisted.

"It doesn't matter if you're scared or not because you're The Decoy," Dix said. He gestured to her hand. "That's what the runes on your hand and Max's and Zack's say. Think of it as a screwed-up nametag."

"Like the barcode isn't enough," Max said sarcastically. "I guess that makes me The One. I get to save mankind." She sighed.

"It looks that way," Dix said. "So somehow the enemy, obviously White, got a hold of Becky's blood somehow and the prophecy mentions uncovered, which I'm guessing means that White had tests run on her blood and in the course of those tests discovered the fact that Becky has no junk DNA, like Max does, and believed that Becky is really The One and most likely assumed that Max was created as a decoy."

"It mentioned three perfect ones," Zack said. "Does that mean that I also have no junk DNA?"

Dix nodded. "We had Wayne run a full DNA analysis on some blood of yours that we had in the lab in the med bay from when you and Becky were injured after she restrained you the last time Max was in heat. We also did the same for Becky. Neither of you have junk DNA. You're both perfect."

"That's good to know, I guess," Zack said. His eyes widened. "The last time Max was in heat…Maxie, when was that? April?"

"Yeah, three months ago," Max said. It dawned on her what Zack was getting at. "And I should get my next one next week sometime. Is that what the prophecy means by uniting? Zack and I have been dating for almost a year now and we've slept together, but never during my heat."

"That might be what the prophecy means," Dix said.

"So no interrupting you guys next week. Gotcha," Becky said.

"Great, she has to make a joke at a time like this," Zack said, rolling his eyes.

"Sorry," Becky said. "Damn, I must be turning into Kevin."

"Hey!" Kevin said.

"Cool it," Max said. "Is there anything else, Dix?"

"Yeah. After I finished decoding all of the runes, I came across another CD in another one of the books that you guys brought back from the house." Dix walked over to a laptop that was hooked up to a projector and took a CD out from his pants pocket and loaded it into the computer and then turned the projector on. "Take a look at this." He clicked on something and another video file played.

"If you've found this, then you've decoded all of the runes and found out about the prophecy," Father said. "I can fill you in on some more things now. The version of the prophecy that most of the Familiars follow tells of the sickness that will cover the Earth except for a chosen few—themselves. It mentions The Chosen One, but it does not mention The Guardian or The Decoy, though if The One's blood is uncovered before The Decoy's, they will assume that The One is a decoy that I purposefully created as a precaution. The Familiars believe that they can destroy The One or now, The Decoy. Work together and neither will happen. Like I said before, I have complete faith in all of you. I wish you all the best and perhaps we will meet in the future."

"That's it," Dix said when the clip ended.

Max looked thoughtful. "This is finally starting to make sense. My runes started showing up the night that Becky got shot when she and her sibs went to rescue Karen from White. White must have gotten a hold of her blood then."

"But he obviously ran some tests and picked up on my DNA then," Becky said. "You don't just discover that somebody has no junk DNA just by glancing at blood with the naked eye. The question is why did White want to test my blood? What was his reason?

Zack shrugged and glanced in the direction of the main gate of Terminal City. _Why would…_ Suddenly, like a brick wall, it hit him why White would want to test Becky's blood. He looked at Becky and he knew that the same thought had just occurred to her as well.

Max saw the looks on their faces and knew what they were thinking. "I want at least one person guarding General Murphy and Colonel Robinson when they are not on duty at all times. The same goes for Colonel Robinson's other daughter. Now! Does anybody know the current whereabouts of Jennifer Nelson?"

"Yeah, I overheard Colonel Robinson mention in passing to General Murphy yesterday afternoon when I was on sentry duty that Jennifer would be attending a pool party at a friend's house. I ever heard her name an address," Jeff said.

"Go now," Max ordered. Jeff nodded and left the room.

"What gives you the right to order us around, sweetheart?" Mole demanded. "You think just because you found out that you're gonna save the human race that you can boss us around?"

"Let's ignore the fact that these people are related to Zack and Becky for a moment, which you are obviously doing already," Max said angrily. "I'll put it into terms that I'm pretty sure that you can relate to. If White tries to take any one of them out, it's almost a sure bet that he'll pin the blame on us and that means more heat on us and that means an excuse for White to try to take us out. Now will you shut up about it?"

"Sorry," Mole mumbled.

"It's okay," Max said. "Everybody's tense now. Let's just take things one at a time. First we make sure that General Murphy and Colonel Robinson and her youngest are covered. Then we'll take things as they come."

TBC

More notes: A lot of thanks to angelofdarkness78 and Gabbie760 for their reviews and support! It might be a little while before I post the next part of this fic because I want to finish up the fic I'm writing about Caroline's backstory because coming up soon will be the chapter where Caroline will explain her history. That fic is up on my yahoo group and is being put up on my site as well, for everybody who can't access my yahoo group. Read it and let me know what you think, please :)


	32. Chapter 31

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Jeff casually leaned against a fence, watching as a group of children laughed and splashed in a pool. _This poor kid. She's in danger because Ames White has it in for Becky and she and Becky have the same mother and he's such an asshole, he hates anything that has to do with Becky._ He took a deep breath to calm himself. _Stay cool, Jeff. You won't be any good guarding the kid if you're too pissed off to concentrate._

He blinked and focused in on Jenny. _With all those kids talking, it didn't take me too long to figure out which one is Jennifer. That and the fact that Jennifer and Becky both have the same smile. I guess they get that from their mother._

He scanned the area. _I don't see anybody here that shouldn't be here…yet. White's got to have somebody around here. Are they taking precautions because White's anticipated a transgenic or transgenics around to guard Jennifer? Then again, they could be taking precautions simply because they don't want any ordinary people seeing them trying to kill an innocent child. If that's the case, then they'll slip up just enough for a transgenic to catch them. Either that or they've gotten better!_

Jeff shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. _Things have really gotten weird around Terminal City recently. Between Zack and Becky's parents showing up back in May, the runes, White presumably finding out about the relationship between Becky and Zack and General Murphy and Colonel Robinson…I can't believe that nobody's flipped out yet! Hell, I can't believe that Becky hasn't gone crazy._ He smiled as he thought of his girlfriend. _I respect her so much for what she's gone through recently that even I can't begin to believe it. What a woman…_

Suddenly, Jeff's head snapped up to the roof of a nearby house, his training kicking in. _They're going for the sniper…_ He tensed and got ready to make a move, keeping his eye on the sniper. _He's pointing…he's pointing…_ Jeff suddenly sprang from his spot, vaulted over the fence, and blurred over to Jenny, snatching her just milliseconds before bullets hit the ground where she had been. He continued running, holding on tightly to her before he finally stopped to catch his breath, looking around to make sure that they weren't being followed.

"What's going on?" Jenny asked. She sounded panicky. "Did I just hear bullets? Did someone try to kill me? Who are you?"

"Somebody who just saved your life," Jeff said. "Listen, Jennifer, I want you to listen to me and do what I tell you to do. I'm going to take you to someplace safe. I'll explain more when we get there. I might have to pick you up and run like I did before and if that happens, I need you to hold on as tight as you can to me."

"Okay," Jenny said.

"Come on," Jeff said. He took Jenny's hand and they walked quickly towards the safehouse, occasionally ducking into alleys and corners to make sure they weren't being followed. After what seemed like an eternity, they reached the safehouse and went inside.

"Now will you tell me what's going on?" Jenny said. The fear had faded from her and now she just sounded a little impatient.

"I will," Jeff promised. "There's—" He stopped when he heard the entrance to the direct tunnel access to Terminal City open and a few moments later, Zack and Becky came into the room. "Hey, you guys."

Jenny's eyes widened in recognition. "You're those people from those pictures that Mom looks at all the time!"

"We are?" Becky repeated. She looked at Zack, not sure whether to be happy or uneasy or what.

"Yeah," Jenny said. "I think they were pictures that Mom needed for her work here, but she would look at them and get really sad. I saw her do that. She didn't know that I saw her but I did. I only saw the pictures themselves once, but I see Mom looking at them and getting sad a lot."

"Oh," Zack said.

"Uh-huh," Jenny said. She looked at Zack. "You know, you kinda look a little bit like my Uncle Chris."

"I do?" Zack said.

"Yeah, you do," Jenny said. "He died way before I was born, even way before the Pulse. Like fifteen or sixteen years before the Pulse. I think Mom was about her age or something like that when he died. My mom has this favorite picture of him and her and my Uncle Danny and my Uncle Pete that my Grandma took the last time that all of them were together before Uncle Chris died."

"I'm sorry about your uncle," Becky said. _Our uncle._ "I bet he was a nice guy."

"Mom says that he was," Jenny said. She turned back to Jeff. "Didn't you say that you would explain?"

Jeff nodded. "I did. These two are connected with your mom. I won't tell you how or why because I think that your mom should be the one to explain because I don't have all the details and I don't think that either of them do themselves. There is somebody who's really angry with some things that these two did and because of that, he's going after anybody who's connected with them and that included your mom and you. Don't blame either of them for what just happened. Neither of them did anything wrong. The bad guy here is the one who's angry at them and who had somebody try to kill you."

Jenny nodded. "I believe you." She looked thoughtful. "You're a transgenic, aren't you? And they are, too?"

"Yeah, we're all transgenic," Zack said. Neither he nor Becky seemed as nervous or agitated around Jenny as they'd been when they first heard about Caroline and Dennis showing up almost two months ago. _Siblings we can definitely deal with._ "We're not the bad guys that the media wants everybody to believe that we are. We don't want to hurt people. Most of us don't, anyway. No more so than a regular human wants to hurt another person."

"Okay," Jenny said. "Mom doesn't think that you're the bad guys, either. I get that feeling from her when she talks about her day to me."

"You're a smart kid," Becky said.

Jeff looked at his watch. "I should get over to her house and be there when Colonel Robinson gets home so I can explain things to her."

"You'll eventually meet up with Krit there," Zack said. "He got the first shift on watching her."

"Got it," Jeff said. He turned around and left the safehouse.

"So…what now?" Jenny asked.

"Now at least one other person will stay here with you until it's safe for you to go back home," Zack assured her. "It might not always be us, but you'll never be unprotected."

"Okay," Jenny said. "Um…who are you?"

"I'm Zack," Zack said.

"I'm Becky," Becky said.

"I'm Jennifer. Call me Jenny," Jenny said.

"We will," Zack said. The three of them just looked at each other for a few moments before they smiled and walked into another room.

TBC

Notes: Thanks again to angelofdarkness78 for all of your reviews and support! Like I said before, I'll be primarily focusing on finishing Caroline's story before Icontinue this one, so check on my yahoo group and on my website for that :)


	33. Chapter 32

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Caroline glared at the police officer. "Look, officer, how can you tell me that it's all that you can do at the present time? A sniper just shot at several kids at the party that my daughter was attending, killed one, wounded several, and my daughter is missing."

"That's right," the officer said. "She's probably hiding somewhere and we'll find her soon. Don't worry. Why don't you go home or back to work and we'll let you know if and when we find something out."

"Fine," Caroline said. She turned around and stalked out of the police station. _Holy shit, the police here in Seattle are morons. Where the hell is Jenny?_ She got back in her Jeep and took out her cell phone and dialed a number.

Dennis answered his phone on the first ring. "What is it, Caroline? Were the police able to tell you anything?"

"No," Caroline said angrily. "They said that Jenny most likely ran off in the confusion and she's probably just hiding somewhere and they'll find her soon. She's only ten years old, Dennis! Even if that's what happened, she won't be as safe as the police seem to think!" She took a deep breath and tried to get herself under control. "I'm losing it."

"You're not losing it, you're a worried mother," Dennis said. "There's only about another hour before you would have left the site for the day, anyway. Go home and try to relax."

"Try to relax?" Caroline said skeptically.

"Yes," Dennis said. He sounded concerned. "Caroline, go home. There's nothing that you can do about Jenny right now. I'll stop by later tonight, okay?"

"You can be such an overprotective asshole sometimes, Dennis," Caroline said, laughing a little. "Unfortunately, you're also right 99 percent of the time. I'll see you later. Take care."

"You too," Dennis said.

"'Bye," Caroline said. She disconnected and put her phone down and started the Jeep and drove off to her house. _He is right. I swear, I don't know what I would have done without Dennis' rationality. Sometimes I can let my temper get away from me just a little bit. Dennis has a pretty similar temper, but he's a little bit more in control of his than I am of mine and he's a little more reasonable. I'm glad he's around._

She got to her house fairly quickly and parked her Jeep in the driveway and got out. She walked up to the front door and let herself in and turned around and shut the door. When she turned back around, two young men were calmly standing in front of her. Caroline drew her pistol, but that didn't scare either of the two. In fact, they both looked a little amused. "Who are you and what the hell are you doing in my house?"

"We're not going to hurt you, ma'am," the taller and older of the two said. There was something about him that Caroline found annoyingly familiar. He held out his hand. "My name is Krit Guevara."

"I'm Jeff McGrath," the other one said. He also held out his hand.

Caroline, unsure of herself, slowly put her pistol away and shook both of their hands, surprised at first of the strength of their grips. It suddenly hit her who they were. "You're both transgenic, aren't you?"

Krit and Jeff nodded. "We are," Jeff said. "I was the one who saved your younger daughter's life."

"Oh," Caroline said. It wasn't just the fact that Jeff had admitted to saving Jenny's life, it was the fact that he had acknowledged that Jenny wasn't Caroline's only daughter. _He knows about Becky and probably Zack, too. They both must know about them._

"We'll explain everything," Krit assured her.

Caroline nodded, still a little stunned. "Please, sit down."

"Thank you," Krit said. He and Jeff sat down on the couch in the living room and Caroline sat across from them in an armchair.

"You said that you saved Jenny's life," Caroline said to Jeff. "What happened?"

"We believe that someone tried to kill Jenny because of her relationship to Becky and to Zack," Jeff said. "A sniper was set up on a nearby roof and started shooting. I was nearby to guard her and I snatched her before the bullets could hit her. Don't worry about Jenny, she's perfectly fine. She's at our safehouse outside of Terminal City and she'll be with at least one or two transgenics at all times."

"Thank goodness," Caroline said. "Wait a second, does this mean that somebody outside of myself and Dennis and you guys know about myself and Zack and Becky?"

"Yes," Krit said. "Ames White, the NSA agent in charge of hunting the transgenics down, found out recently about the relationship and we believe—with good reason, especially now—that he's going to make attempts to kill Jenny, which he did unsuccessfully, and yourself and General Murphy in the near future. He's not exactly happy with either of your older kids right now. They've both pissed him off in the past."

Caroline smirked. "Good kids."

"That isn't the whole reason why he's so eager to go after them and you," Jeff said. He and Krit explained to Caroline the story about the Familiars and White's connection to them. "I know it's really hard to believe, but you have to trust us."

"I do trust you," Caroline said. "I do." She shook her head. "This is insane."

"You're telling me? I'm the one whose sister is supposed to be the one who's gonna save humanity," Krit said.

Both Jeff and Caroline laughed a little. "Good point," Caroline said. She looked hopefully at the two transgenics. "Can you bring Jenny back home to me?"

"No, not yet," Jeff said. "We want to bring her back, but until the danger has passed, we can't risk it."

"I understand," Caroline said.

"Maybe we can do a little something in the meantime," Krit suggested.

"True," Jeff said. He took out his cell phone and dialed a number. "Hey, it's me. She wants to see Jenny, so I thought that…yeah, exactly." He waited a moment before he handed the phone to Caroline.

"Hello?" Caroline said.

"Mom!" Jenny said happily.

"Jenny!" Caroline said, relieved. "Thank goodness that you're okay."

"I'm fine," Jenny said. "These people are really nice."

"That's good," Caroline said. "I hope that you're behaving yourself."

"I am," Jenny insisted. "Can I go home soon?"

"Not right now, baby," Caroline said. "It might be a little while before you can come home. We all want to make sure that everything is safe first. Don't worry, you will be coming home before too long. I promise."

"I know," Jenny said. There was a pause and then another voice started talking.

"Hello," the voice said.

Caroline frowned. "Are you one of the transgenics that are guarding Jennifer at this safehouse?"

"Yes, I am," the voice said. "Don't worry, we'll take good care of her."

"I'm sure that you will, but I'm still nervous about having strangers watch her," Caroline said.

"I know," the voice said. She laughed a little, sounding both nervous and amused at the same time. "If it makes you feel better, just think of it as me starting to make up for all the years of babysitting that you probably think that I owe you."

Caroline was stunned. "Becky?" she whispered.

"Yeah," Becky said. "Listen, I know that you probably want to talk to me, but I need to go now. I'm really sorry."

"It's okay," Caroline said. "Where's your brother?"

"Doing who-knows-what," Becky said. "Sometimes, he's got a really lousy sense of timing. You should have been there the time that Zack—" Caroline heard somebody hitting someone else and Becky and a man that she figured was probably Zack call each other names. Jenny got back on the phone.

"I'm sorry, Mom, they're being weird," Jenny said.

Caroline just laughed. She could almost hear Jenny rolling her eyes. "That's fine, Jenny." _I'm happy that they're acting like a normal brother and sister are!_ "I'll try to talk to you again soon, okay? Be good. I love you."

"I love you, Mom," Jenny said.

Caroline disconnected and handed the phone back to Jeff. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he said.

"Wow, I spoke…" Caroline took a deep breath and then turned back to Krit and Jeff. "Do you guys want something to eat or drink while you're here?"

"Sure," Krit said. He and Jeff followed Caroline into her kitchen.

TBC

Notes: Once again, thank you so much for the reviews and support, angelofdarkness78!


	34. Chapter 33a

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Notes: Maybe slight spoiler-ish stuff for "Fuhgeddaboutit."

"I'm glad that Jenny's okay," Dennis said to Caroline as they walked together through a park that night.

"Me too," Caroline said.

"I'm jealous," Dennis admitted. "You got to talk for a minute with Becky."

Caroline smiled. "Maybe you will too sometime soon. You'll be happy to know that her and Zack act like a brother and a sister should. Becky started to say something to me that was probably embarrassing about Zack and he heard her and I think they were fighting at least verbally and then Jenny apologized and said that they were being weird." She laughed. "Family bonding at it's finest."

"Lucky kids," Dennis said. "I wish that I had something like that growing up. I had friends, but I didn't have any brothers and sisters that I grew up with."

"I'm sorry," Caroline said.

"It's okay," Dennis said. He looked around. "I don't see any of those kids watching us, but they've known how to do this for most of their lives. I'd be worried if I did see one of them around."

"Yeah," Caroline agreed.

"Caroline?"

Caroline stopped in her tracks. _Not him. Not him. Not him…_ It was a voice that she hadn't heard in a long time and the one voice that she wanted above all else to never hear again. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and tried to make herself calm down. _I can't go crazy now. Not in front of Dennis yet and definitely not in public. Just because nobody appears to be around doesn't mean that you're not in public._ She turned around. "It's been a long time. What are you doing here in Seattle?"

"Just passing through," Lydecker said.

Dennis looked at Caroline suspiciously. _There's something going on here. I'm not sure who this guy is, but I think Caroline does and by the look on her face, there's some big history between them and it isn't pleasant at all, at least on Caroline's part._ He knew Caroline well enough to see past the apparently neutral expression on her face and see the hatred that was apparently hidden in her eyes. _What is going on here?_ "Old friend of yours?"

"Something—" Caroline was cut off as she was violently tackled to the ground. She tried to catch her breath and not only saw a masked young woman dressed in black lying on top of her, but heard bullets flying over head. _Oh my God, somebody's trying to—Dennis!_ She looked to her left and saw that Dennis had been tackled to the ground by a masked man his size. She looked over to her right and saw that a masked woman had tackled Lydecker. The three people who had saved them looked up suddenly and exchanged hand signals. The man and the woman who had saved Dennis and Caroline got up off of them and the other woman motioned to them to get behind a nearby bench.

"Stay here until it's safe," the mystery woman ordered. Lydecker looked at her and Caroline could have sworn his face went pale. He started to say something, but the mystery woman cut him off. "Shut the hell up, Lydecker!" She looked around nervously. "Where are the others?"

"Right here," a male voice said confidently and two more people, also masked, leaped over them and joined the first two.

Caroline looked up and her eyes widened at the sight. _Oh my God, they're amazing!_ The men that they were fighting were obviously the Familiars that Krit and Jeff had told her about, but the transgenics that were fighting them were spectacular as they took down all eight of the Familiars that had attacked.

The mystery woman looked up when she heard that the fighting had stopped. She stood up and motioned for Dennis and Caroline and Lydecker to get up and walked over to the other transgenics. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, Max, we got them," the second man that had joined them said. "Most of the rest of the X6s could have taken those last two."

"Good job, Kyle," Max said.

"What, no good job for me?" the first man who had joined in asked. The other two, the ones who had saved Dennis and Caroline, stayed silent.

Max rolled her eyes and smacked Alec upside the head. Caroline had to hold back a laugh at that. "Shut up."

"What are we going to do about these guys?" Kyle asked.

"I've got it covered," Max said. She unzipped her leather vest and reached inside of a pocket that was inside it and pulled out her cell phone. She dialed a number and waited for a moment. "Hey, Mia? It's Max. Yeah, I need a favor from you. Can you come over to Pine Road Park and do your thing? Yeah, that's right. Great. Thank you so much, Mia. I'll see you in a few." She disconnected and put her cell phone away and re-zipped her vest. "Mia will be here in a few minutes to take care of these bozos."

"A Psy-Ops unit?" Lydecker guessed.

Max glared. "I thought I told you to shut up."

They were all quiet for a few minutes before a car pulled up to the side of the road near the park and a young woman got out and walked over to them, smiling cheerfully. "Hey there, Max."

"Hi, Mia," Max said. She looked down at the Familiars, who were just starting to regain consciousness. "Think you can take care of all eight of these morons?"

"No problem," Mia said. "I once had to work over an entire unit of X5s all by myself. I can handle these guys without a problem. In a few minutes, they won't know that they even saw General Murphy and Colonel Robinson, much less tried to kill them. I'll fill you in on all of the details later."

"Excellent," Max said. "You're the best." She and the other transgenics and Dennis and Caroline and Lydecker left the park. "Where did you guys park the van?"

"Just around the corner," Alec said. They turned the corner and got into the van that was parked there, just as Alec had said. Alec got behind the wheel and they drove over to the transgenics' safehouse and parked the van there and went inside.

"Thank you for saving us," Dennis said.

"It was nothing," Max said. She took off her mask and Alec and Kyle did the same. The other two kept their masks on.

Caroline looked around. "Where's Jenny?"

"She's upstairs with two more of our guys," Max assured her. She looked at the two transgenics who were still masked and her voice became even more assuring. "It's okay for you guys to take them off now. Don't worry."

The two transgenics looked at each other nervously before they reached up and took their masks off. Dennis and Caroline stared in shock as they realized that they were face-to-face with their son and daughter for the first time.

TBC

More notes: Thank you so much to angelofdarkness78, Doza, and Speedy for their reviews and support! Speedy, I already have an idea as to how Max will defeat the Familiars, but thank you for your suggestion. I appreciate it and if you or anybody else has a suggestion, feel free to make one!


	35. Chapter 33b

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Notes: Spoilers and spoiler-ish stuff for "Cold Comfort," "…And Jesus Brought A Casserole," and "Some Assembly Required."

Zack felt too overwhelmed to do anything but stare at his parents. _This is unreal…is this really happening to me? Do they really care for me and Becky? Were they tricked into—am I losing it?_ The four of them just stayed that way for a few minutes before a voice broke the silence.

"Mom!"

Caroline snapped out of it at the sound of her youngest child's voice. "Jenny!" She met her halfway across the room and hugged her. "Thank goodness that you're alright."

"You heard me on the phone," Jenny said.

"I know," Caroline said. She released Jenny to wipe the tears off of her face. "I know. I still…oh sweetheart." She gave Jenny another hug.

"Mom, you're embarrassing me," Jenny said.

"Sorry," Caroline said. She released Jenny and smiled. "Have you been behaving yourself?"

"Yes, Mom," Jenny said. She grinned and pointed to Jeff, who with Krit had followed Jenny downstairs. "He's really cute!"

Becky didn't know whether to groan or laugh. _I barely meet my younger sister and she already wants my boyfriend!_ "I'm sorry, Jenny. Jeff's my boyfriend."

"Oh, man," Jenny said.

"Don't worry, Jenny," Caroline said. She heard a noise behind her and stiffened, realizing that Lydecker was still with them. She tried to keep the tension off of her face for Jenny's sake. "Listen, will you be a good girl and go back upstairs? I need to talk about some grown-up things with everybody else."

"Okay," Jenny said. "Can I go home tonight?"

"That's one of the things that we might talk about," Caroline said. "Either way, I'll see you when we're done talking."

"I'll take her upstairs," Krit offered. "Come on."

"Okay," Jenny said. She followed Krit back up the stairs.

Caroline stood up and as soon as she believed that Jenny was out of earshot, turned around and walked over to Lydecker and punched him hard in the face. "You fucking bastard!"

Everybody stared in shock as Lydecker calmly picked himself up off the floor and wiped the blood from his nose. "I should have known that you were faking your amnesia after the accident."

"Accident? Even after all of these years you still won't call it what it really was?" Caroline started to swing at Lydecker again, but Dennis grabbed her arm.

"Caroline, calm down," he said. "What is going on here?"

"I'm sorry," Caroline said. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. She glared murderously at Lydecker. "Dennis, remember the first day at work here in Seattle when we met up again and I mentioned that I had been in an accident about eight years ago?"

"Yeah. I had a feeling that there was a story behind it and you didn't want to tell it to me," Dennis said.

Caroline nodded. "You're going to hear it now."

Max found a chair, set it down, and walked over to Lydecker and shoved him down onto it. "You're going to sit still for story time like a good little boy."

"I'm getting tired of this treatment," Lydecker said.

"And I'm getting tired of you using my back as target practice for your knife," Caroline hissed.

Both Zack and Becky looked at each other. "What do you mean?" Zack asked.

"I'll tell you," Caroline said. "I guess I'll start from the very beginning. Bear with me and trust me." She took a deep breath. "My dad was in the army. He graduated from West Point in May of 1963 and he ended up being one of the first soldiers sent over to Vietnam. After he did his year over there, he came back to the United States and married my mom. My oldest brother, Chris, was born in April of 1968. My brother Danny was born about a year after Chris and my other brother, Pete, was born about a year after Danny. They moved around a few times over the course of the first seven or eight years of my parents' marriage. In the winter of 1973, my dad and his unit had been sent over to Europe to deal with some terrorist activity at one of our bases. He hurt his leg in the fighting and it was bad enough for him to be permanently taken out of active duty. He didn't lose his leg and he recovered as well as he could, but it was still enough for him not to be able to serve in active combat again. After he had recovered months later, he was offered a position as a teacher at a military school near Columbus so my family moved there that summer. Eventually, my dad became a congressman and spent at least half of his time in Washington. Anyway, Chris started kindergarten that September and guess who happened to be in his class?"

"Lydecker? Are you kidding me?" Max said. _She's known Lydecker for her entire life?_

"The one and only," Caroline said. "He and Chris became best friends pretty quickly. Anyway, life went on and I was born about two years after my family moved to Columbus. My life was pretty normal. I was and still am really close to my brothers. I looked up to them, even though I didn't like most of their friends, particularly with Chris. I don't know why, but most of Chris' friends just annoyed me, Lydecker here included. One of the few friends that I got along with all of the time and I actually considered a good friend of mine was Lisa."

"Who was Lisa?" Becky asked.

"Lisa was Lydecker's late wife," Caroline said. She grinned. "She used to baby-sit for me sometimes before I got too old for a babysitter. She told me everything and I would tell her everything and we were great friends. She even taught me how to ride a motorcycle."

"Lydecker told me that she was mine and Krit's biological mother," Max said.

Caroline turned and looked at her and it finally clicked. _That's why she and that young man looked familiar. They both have Lisa's eyes!_ "I knew you looked familiar to me."

"I'm just happy that Lydecker didn't turn out to be my father," Max said. "He said that he didn't want to contaminate the gene pool."

Caroline smirked cruelly. "He couldn't even if he wanted to. The only thing ol' Don's gun is shooting is blanks."

Becky snickered. "You're kidding me."

"Nope," Caroline said. "I bet you didn't know that Lisa told me why you guys couldn't have kids of your own, did you?" She shook her head. "What did you do, did you trick Lisa into having some of her eggs taken so they could be frozen until that day in the future when maybe you actually found a way to give you a sperm count but were going to use them for Manticore all along?"

"No, Lisa wanted to have her eggs frozen in case we found a way to have kids of our own," Lydecker said. "I wasn't going to use her eggs for Manticore!"

"Bullshit," Caroline said angrily. She shook her head. "Anyway, like I was saying, I idolized my brothers. They all went into the military. Both Chris and Pete went to West Point and Danny went to the naval academy over in Annapolis. I decided to go to West Point. My mother wasn't thrilled, but I stuck to my decision and I got in. I was thrilled. Then…" She had to pause for a moment. "Then my brother Chris died on January 16th, 1993. I got home from school and my dad was back from Washington early and my parents were both in the living room and they told me that there was an accident on Chris' base and then we waited until we got that call…"

"I'm sorry," Zack said softly.

"Thank you," Caroline said. She wiped her eyes. "So we picked up the pieces and I started West Point late that summer and I was happy there. Things went smoothly until that October when my mom called me and told me that somebody hit the back of my car when she was in the supermarket. My parents occasionally used my car while I was at school. The back of my car was totaled and she said that she and my dad weren't going to get me another one because I was at school full-time and I didn't need one. I was annoyed but I agreed with the logic. The next day, I got a call from Donny-boy here. He said that he was in Columbus for a conference and that he'd talked to my mom and had gotten my number from her and had heard about what had happened." Her blue eyes turned icy. "You set it up, didn't you? Hell, I bet you were lying about even being in Columbus when you called me."

"I did," Lydecker admitted. "I had somebody watching your house and the accident was staged. I wasn't in Columbus, either. I was in my office in Gillette when I called you. I did get your number from your mother, though. I'd called her the night before I called you presumably to say hello and after she told me what had happened, I mentioned that I wanted to help you and she gave me your number at school."

"Staged? Why?" Max wondered.

"Why else?" Caroline said bitterly. "Lydecker told me that he wanted to help me get the money to get a new car. He had mentioned the Thanksgiving before Chris died that he was being transferred to Casper, Wyoming to be put in charge of the military units that were guarding a government medical research facility there. He told me that the facility was testing a new medication that promoted cell regeneration and they needed a variety of different cells to test it on and they needed somebody to donate reproductive cells. I didn't want to do it. It sounded like it could be dangerous for me, but Lydecker assured me that it would be safe and when I still was unsure…" Her expression darkened. "He said that Chris would have wanted him to help me out if there was a way."

"You used the memory of her brother in that way?" Zack hissed. "You sick bastard."

"I've heard of the expression 'dancing on somebody's grave,' but you don't do that, much less throw a party on it," Becky said. Her voice was as cold as her mother's and her brother's. Dennis and Max didn't say anything to Lydecker, but the furious looks in their eyes got their message across more than clearly enough.

"So I agreed to it," Caroline said. "The next month, the day after Thanksgiving, I flew out to Casper. The day after I got there, I went to the facility that Lydecker told me to go to so I could make the donation." She smiled. "That's actually where I met Dennis for the first time. I think I saw him on campus before once or twice or something like that and I'd heard his name mentioned by some professors of mine. We got along pretty well and I told him why I was there and he said that he was there for the same reason and he gave me a ride back to the motel that we both were staying at in town. He came back hours after he was done as soon as the doctors at the place said I could go and we picked up our checks from the office and we left." She frowned. "As soon as I got that check, I got a bad feeling. I didn't know why, but all of a sudden, things didn't seem to add up. I understood why I might have been the only woman in the waiting room because my procedure was slightly time-intensive, but Dennis' wasn't. There should have at least been more men in there with us. I told Dennis this and he agreed with me and when we got back to the motel, the first thing we did was to throw those checks into the fireplace in the lobby and to watch them burn into two nice piles of ash." She smiled again. "It's still absolutely one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life."

Dennis also smiled and he nodded. "Mine too. I've never regretted it."

Becky felt relief flow through her, surprising her. _They didn't sell us out. Maybe…_

"I went back to New York to West Point a few days later," Caroline said. "Dennis and I stayed friends. He graduated that May and we kept in touch for awhile but then we lost contact. It wasn't because we fought or anything, we just lost contact. I guess it was one of those things. Anyway, life was life. I continued to do well at West Point. One afternoon, I got a call from Lisa. I was having a little bit of a rough day so it really cheered me up. She mentioned that she'd gotten a call from Lydecker and he'd sounded really happy about something and she told me that she was going to try to take advantage of that good mood and try to convince him about adopting a kid." The almost happy expression on her face faded to anger as she looked Lydecker in the eye again. "That day was September 25th, 1995."

"My birthday," Zack said quietly.

"Yeah," Caroline said. Her expression changed from anger to grief. "Late the next night, my mom called me and told me that Lisa had been killed earlier that night."

"How exactly did she die?" Max asked. She knew about Lydecker's wife being killed, but it hadn't mention how she'd died.

"Botched robbery," Lydecker said softly. "That's what the police said."

"I didn't see Lydecker again after Lisa's funeral until the party at my house that my parents threw for me to celebrate me graduating from West Point in May of 1997," Caroline said. "He was looking much better than he had been at the funeral. I think he'd been clean and sober for a year at that point. He congratulated me and then he introduced me to a friend of his whom he said had been working for him at the facility in Casper. Patrick Nelson."

"Patrick Nelson? As in your ex-husband Patrick Nelson?" Dennis said.

"The same man," Caroline said. "Patrick seemed like a great guy. We apparently had a lot in common, he was funny, he was just a great guy and we got married about two years later. He was reluctant to have children for a long time, but I finally got him to agree to have at least one and we had Jenny. I was happy. I loved my work, I had a great husband, and I had a beautiful healthy daughter. I was enjoying my life."

"But then something happened," Max guessed.

Caroline nodded. "February 25th, 2013. I was off-duty that entire day and Patrick wasn't. I had just checked in on Jenny to see if she was still sleeping and I'd left her room and I saw that Patrick had left his home office door ajar. He was normally almost paranoid about keeping that door close so I couldn't resist going into the office. I did and at first I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. I sat down at his desk and I found a CD case that said something about escapee information. I was still curious so I put the CD in. The first file was pretty much something to tell Patrick what the CD was for. What stuck with me was the fact that it explicitly told Patrick not to tell me about it and the fact that it was signed 'Don.' I looked around on Patrick's computer and I found some information about Manticore." She turned back to Lydecker. "You bastard. How could you have put those poor kids through that hell? They didn't deserve it!"

"What did he have to do with Manticore?" Dennis asked.

"He was involved with Manticore from 1989 on," Caroline said. "He was promoted to Major and they decided to have him be in charge of the facility in Wyoming in the fall of 1992 and he was promoted to Colonel just before Zack was born." She shook her head. "I was shocked. Not only did this place where they did all these horrible things to innocent babies and children exist, but my husband was a knowing participant. He was involved with Manticore and had been for years. I looked through some of the files that had been saved on the hard drive and then I went back to the CD and I opened a folder and I opened a file and…" She couldn't continue. Even after more than eight years, the emotion still overwhelmed her.

"Caroline?" Dennis said softly. He put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Caroline nodded and cried silently for another minute or two before she wiped the tears from her face. "I just knew it from the instant I saw the picture." The emotion was clear in her voice. "There wasn't a single part of me that didn't know that I was looking at a picture of my own son. I read the file. It was some basic information. Zack's name, the day he was born, what had happened to lead to the escape…" She answered the unspoken question. "There wasn't anything in the file or anywhere on the CD that mentioned Becky."

"What happened next?" Becky asked.

"After the shock of finding out that I had a son that I'd never know faded, I got so angry," Caroline said. She felt that same rage come back to her and Max blinked. The look in her eyes was so much like the one she had seen in Zack's eyes before that it almost scared her. Caroline clenched her fists as she looked at Lydecker. "He knew what would have happened if I had found out about Zack. That must have been why he introduced Patrick to me after I'd graduated from college. He wanted somebody to keep an eye on me so that I wouldn't try to take back my kid, or kids as I later found out."

"He was a soldier, not your son," Lydecker said.

"He is my son!" Caroline screamed. "Zack is mine and Dennis' son and Becky is mine and Dennis' daughter and you kidnapped them! You fucking stole my children from me—from us—and the fact that you did it before they were conceived doesn't change the fact!"

"What happened next?" Max asked.

"I made the decision the next chance that I got that I was going to take Jenny and file for divorce," Caroline said. She laughed bitterly. "I'm normally so good and so careful, but did I think that Patrick would have hidden cameras around his office? I didn't. Two days after I found out about Zack, I was driving home from the base when my left rear tire blew out on me and I lost control of the car. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in the hospital. Patrick was there and the doctor started to ask me questions, I guess to see if I lost my memory. He asked me some basic questions and then he asked me what the last thing that I remembered was. I happened to look at Patrick before I answered and something told me to lie and I told him that the last thing that I'd remembered was this one night about a month before the 'accident.' I knew that I'd fooled Patrick. Then the doctor told me that I'd been in a coma for four months and that I'd nearly died." She bit her lip. "Then he and the nurse and Patrick all left and I heard someone else coming towards me door and I thought I'd heard Lydecker's voice so I got out of bed and went to the door to listen." She looked even angrier than she'd been before. "It wasn't an accident. He'd sent somebody, I guess one of those soldiers, to take me out because I'd found out about Zack. Patrick was wondering what the point was since Zack had already escaped and Lydecker here was going to say when somebody went past them in the hall and they moved their conversation."

"I'm a good point, aren't I?" Becky said quietly.

"I was…it was the lowest point in my life," Caroline said. "I knew that I was stuck in the marriage. Even if I divorced Patrick, Lydecker would make sure that I'd be with somebody from Manticore who could keep an eye on me. I was trapped. At least I had Jenny." She sighed. "As for how I eventually found out about Becky, years went by and both Patrick and I were transferred to Georgia and a few years after that, I overheard a conversation between Patrick and one of his superiors on the phone." She smirked. "Manticore had burned down and apparently the transgenics had gotten free. I called my lawyer only a minute or two later and asked him to start working on those divorce papers."

"You don't waste any time, do you?" Dennis said.

"Damn right I don't," Caroline said. "Then back in March, I was home by myself. Patrick had moved out after he'd been served with the divorce papers months before and Jenny was sleeping over at a friend's house. I was recording a program for Jenny when it was interrupted and they gave a special report about four people who'd been identified as transgenics."

"And that's when you found out about Becky," Max said.

"Right," Caroline said. "Four pictures came up on the screen. Yours was one of them, that young man's was another, Zack's was another, and Becky's was the fourth. Just like I had felt when I first saw that picture of Zack, I just knew that Becky was my daughter and I knew that she was the reason why Lydecker and whoever decided to have somebody kill me after I'd found out about Zack." She turned to Becky. "I never resented you at all for that. Not the slightest bit."

"Thank you," Becky said.

Caroline nodded, not knowing quite what to say back to her, and turned to Dennis. "It was after I'd calmed down after realizing that Becky was why they'd tried to kill me that I went back and looked at that again and I realized that you were their father. I wanted to let you know then, but I didn't have any current address or phone number of yours"

"I know," Dennis said.

"It wouldn't have done any good," Lydecker said.

"Gee, that sounds really fucking familiar," Becky snapped. Caroline and Dennis turned to her and Becky explained. "My sister Felicia was supposedly killed after she was falsely accused of accidentally killing a trainer when our unit and another one were running a training exercise together. Just after Thanksgiving, my sister Maggie spotted Felicia and we found out that she'd survived and had been used as a guinea pig for this computer chip that not only jumped up her abilities, but pretty much turned her into a living robot. Not only that, the mission that she'd been given just before Manticore burned down was to hunt down all of the '09 escapees and to either bring them back to Manticore or if she couldn't contact base, to kill them. Guess who also happened to be in Seattle at the time."

"Oh my God," Dennis said when he followed what Becky was saying.

"I stopped Felicia before she could hurt Zack or Max or anybody else and shorted out the chip and she's fine and back to normal," Becky assured them. "But before I did, I found Lydecker here in the city and he confirmed everything for us and I asked him why he didn't tell me that Felicia had lived and guess what his answer was?"

"You lied to me, you lied to my children…" Caroline said angrily.

"Caroline, that's enough—" Lydecker started to say.

"You're right! That is enough!" Caroline exploded. "Let's stop talking about what you did or had done to me and let's talk about what you did to my kids! What you did to all of those poor kids! I've read all of the files that I was sent when I got the Terminal City assignment, not just what I found in Patrick's office. You killed an innocent girl right in front of Zack, somebody that he considered to be a sister to him! You had them whipped and beaten when they didn't perform up to your precious standards! You held them under water and you wouldn't release them until _you_ wanted to let them go! You put my daughter when she was only six years old through six full months of the worst physical and mental torture that anybody could conceive of? She was just a small child! They were both only kids!"

"She was a soldier! We had to put her in Psychological Operations!" Lydecker protested angrily.

"Why? To make sure that she wouldn't do the right thing, like her brother did?" Caroline yelled. "Did you stop to think about what you were doing, Donald? Did it ever occur to you when you looked at them what your best friend would think if he knew what you were doing to his nephew and his niece? Did it ever occur to you what Lisa would think if she knew that you took some of her eggs and made two children and tortured them?"

"I tried not to think about that," Lydecker admitted.

"But you couldn't completely not think about it, could you?" Caroline screamed. "You couldn't! You just went on and put those kids through hell! You pushed them and you pushed them and you beat them and tortured them and when Zack and his family left, you went on torturing Becky and all of the others? Why did you do it, Lydecker? Why did you fucking do it!" All of the pain she felt at the thought of what her older children had gone through, all of the emotion finally overwhelmed her and she collapsed to the ground, sobbing fiercely. She didn't notice Max make a quick hand gesture to Kyle and Jeff and the two of them taking Lydecker out of the room and out of the safehouse. She didn't notice Max and Alec leaving the room themselves. All she was aware of was her sobbing and Dennis pulling her into his arms and holding her while she cried and then, tentatively at first, Zack and Becky each putting a hand on one of her shoulders to comfort her.

TBC

More notes: angelofdarkness78, thank you so much again for your reviews and support. As for your suggestion, it may not be exactly how Dennis and Caroline properly meet Max, but as to the scenario itself, never say never… :)


	36. Chapter 34

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Max and Zack finally got back to their apartment very late that night. As soon as they had gotten back in, Zack sat down on the living room couch and closed his eyes. Max sat down next to him and took on of his hands and held it. "Are you okay?"

"Probably," Zack said. He kept his eyes closed. "This has to have been one of the most emotionally draining days of my life."

"I don't blame you," Max said. She shook her head. "Your poor mother. Should I be surprised how Lydecker repeatedly stabbed her in the back or shouldn't I be? I don't know. I hate it how things get changed around on you just when you think that you know somebody or get a handle on things."

"You and me both," Zack said. "I'm not sure what to think about anything right now. My mind is just too exhausted."

"Look on the bright side," Max said. "You and Becky are on a first-name basis with your parents now. Going from too freaked out to mention their names to first names in two months isn't bad at all. At this rate, you'll definitely be on 'Mom' and 'Dad' status with them by the end of the year."

Zack smiled a little and opened his eyes. "Maybe. I guess we'll see what happens with that."

There was a knock at the door. "Are you guys up?"

"Yeah, and the door's unlocked," Max said. "Come on in." The door opened and Rena and Zane entered the apartment.

"We just ran into Kyle and he told us what happened," Zane said. "Man, I don't know what to say to you."

"I don't think that there's anything that comes close to being appropriate to say in this particular situation," Zack said. "I just met my parents face-to-face, found out that they were tricked into donating to Manticore, found out that they seriously care and actually love me and Becky like normal parents do, and found out that my mother has this whole history with Lydecker and is really the first one in the line to kill the asshole."

"So it's just another night at the office?" Rena joked, trying to lighten the mood. She smiled when she saw Zack start to smile.

"Yeah, pretty much," Zack said.

"Zack's eyes are so much like his mom's that it freaked me out a little," Max said. "He acts a lot like her."

Rena grinned wickedly. "Zack's a momma's boy! Zack's a momma's boy!" She and Zane and Max laughed when Zack gave her the evil eye.

"Rena, I will throttle you in your sleep if you do not shut up," he said.

"You'll live," Max said. She smiled at Zack. "You're acting normally again. You haven't made that kind of a threat since…when was it...oh yeah, two days ago when you and Krit and Wayne and I were doing more building repair and moron one and moron two started to throw tools at each other."

"You gotta love those two," Zane said.

"Yeah, and you gotta beat the crap out of them when you're around," Max said.

"We are not that bad when we're together," Zane said.

Zack looked at him skeptically. "Really? Unless I'm mistaken, I think Max and I nearly had to put all three of you in med bay the last time we had to break up one of your fights."

"It'd be convenient for Wayne. He works there a lot as it is," Zane said.

They all laughed and Zack's eyes drifted towards the kitchen a picture that Max had put up on the refrigerator in the kitchen. It was an instant photograph of all ten of them that Alec had taken the night that they'd finally been reunited. He became quiet and lost in his thoughts and jumped a little when he heard Max trying to get his attention. "What is it, Maxie?"

"I was asking you the same question," Max said. "Are you sure that you're okay, Zack?" She looked worried.

"I'm fine," Zack assured her. "I was just thinking. Family…we're finally together and we have been for a few months now. I've known about Becky and me for almost a year and now she and I actually have a chance for a real family. We have a mom and a dad who treat us or at least want to treat us the way a parent should treat their own kids and we even have a half-sister and it's…it's like we're rabbits and somebody is holding out a big carrot in front of us and it's just barely out of our reach. I'm so close to having what people traditionally define as a normal family. Myself of all people."

"I know how you feel," Rena said. "I felt that way by the time that I had to leave my foster home. I loved both of my foster parents and it almost killed me inside when I had to leave my foster home. I actually felt what a normal life could be like and it was so close to being mine. I think my foster mom wanted to legally adopt me by the time that I left." She looked down. "I wish that I could just call her and tell her that I'm okay and everything's fine."

"Maybe one day," Zane said. He put an arm around Rena's shoulders.

"Yeah," Rena agreed. "That's what I told myself. That's what I still tell myself everyday when I'm feeling down about my life. I got to know what that kind of a life was like and I would make damn sure I would have it again one day. I had the chance and I took it and when I get it again, I'll take it again. You've got this great chance, Zack, and when this whole Familiar-save-the-world bullshit is done and over with, you and Becky will both be able to take this chance."

"Even before we left Manticore, we made our own chance," Zane said. "We had each other. We figured out what family was and we made our own. All of us and our brothers and sisters."

"Zane's right," Max said. "You and Becky are both lucky in the sense that your biological parents really _are_ your parents. They are the ones who care about you and love you. For me, my mother is the girl who tried to escape from Manticore while she was still pregnant with me because she didn't want to give me up. For Rena, her mother is her foster mother and I'm sure she considers the man who was her foster father to be her father. We take our chances, whether they're given to us or we make them, and we don't let go."

"I won't let go of this one," Zack said. "My brothers and sisters…and my parents…" He grinned and then yawned.

"You need some sleep," Max said. She kissed him and helped him up off of the couch.

"We should be getting some sleep too," Zane said as he and Rena also stood up.

"Together?" Max teased.

"No, we're not dating," Rena said.

"Tell yourself whatever you want," Max said, grinning. "I'll see you guys later."

"See you later, Maxie," Zane said. He and Rena left the apartment.

Max helped Zack stumble into their bedroom and onto the bed. "Do you want to sleep in your clothes?"

"I'm too tired to care," Zack mumbled.

"I'll help," Max said. She crawled onto the bed and had just taken Zack's jacket off of him when he reached and grabbed her and pulled her to his side.

"Thank you, Max," Zack said. He kissed her on the forehead. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Max said.

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much again for your review and support, angelofdarkness78! I'll try to have my other prequel fic "A Taste of Everyday" updated on my yahoo group and on my website soon!


	37. Chapter 35

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Dennis and Caroline stood in the middle of the military camp in front of Terminal City, sipping coffee and going over reports when they looked and saw a car pulling up just outside of the camp. Caroline tried to hide a smirk. "Think you can get through this without bursting out laughing?"

"Do you think that you can take a picture with your camera phone without him noticing?" Dennis asked.

"Are you serious?" Caroline said.

"Hey, the kids did say that they wanted to see the look on his face when he sees that we're still alive," Dennis said. He dropped the volume of his voice. "And judging by the look on his face, he's not happy with the story that Mia left his people with. It's show time." He straightened up. "Agent White."

"General Murphy," White greeted him, trying to contain his fury at seeing him and Caroline still alive. "How are you today?"

"I can't complain," Dennis said. "The transgenics inside Terminal City are still behaving themselves. Makes our jobs that much easier, doesn't it?" _It makes mine easier, at any rate. It also makes it that much more fun to see how it pisses you off!_

"It does," White lied. He turned to Caroline, who was apparently having a conversation on her cell phone. Caroline noticed him and held up a hand while she finished and 'disconnected' her phone and put it back in her pocket. "Hello, Colonel Robinson. I'm surprised that you're here and not waiting by the phone at your house waiting to hear from the police about your daughter. I'm sorry to hear about that, by the way. I hope that the police find her soon and that she's safe."

_She's safe and the police will 'find' her when it's safe for her to be found. _Caroline resisted the urge to frown at the condescending tone of White's voice that White was trying to hide. "The police have told me that there was nothing that I could do and I would go crazy in my house all by myself all day, so I came here where I can at least try to keep my mind occupied with other matters."

"Was that the police that you were on the phone with now?" White asked with apparent innocence.

"No, I was actually on the phone with my father trying to reassure him that I was fine and everything was under control," Caroline lied. _I guess Krit and Jeff were right about his hearing being normal._ "You know how it is, Agent White. No matter how old you are, the second that your parent or parents hear even the slightest whisper that something is wrong, they freak out. Your parents are still the same way with you, right?"

"No," White said. Caroline saw that she'd accidentally hit a very sore spot with him. White shook his head. "My mother died when I was eight and my father and I…we don't have the best of relationships. It started to fall apart after my mother died and I haven't spoken to him at all since I started college when I was eighteen."

"Oh," Caroline said. "I didn't know that. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," White said. _It's not okay that you reminded me of where my father went wrong, whether you meant to or not. No wonder that they chose you to contribute to those pieces of garbage 599 and 405. I guess it's appropriate that they used human filth to create transgenic filth._ He was brought out of his thoughts when his cell phone beeped. "Excuse me for a minute?"

"Take your time," Dennis said. He and Caroline watched as White turned so that his back was towards them and took out his cell phone. They saw how White's back stiffened when he saw whatever text or picture message that he had obviously just received. Dennis waited until White turned back to them before he spoke again. "Is something the matter, Agent White?"

"No, some telemarketer managed to get a hold of my phone number and sent me a text message," White lied. "They seem to think that sending text messages doesn't count as harassing people by actually calling them. It's amazing, isn't it?"

Caroline knew that he was lying but smiled. "I know what you mean. They just can't leave it alone at spam email or calling in the middle of dinner, can't they?" She shrugged. "Do you need anything, Agent White, or is there something that you need to give to us?"

"No, nothing on either count," White said. "I was just checking in as usual. There's nothing to be reported on my end. Any transgenics that are still at large outside of Terminal City have also been well-behaved. We haven't had any reports in a few days at least and no captures in quite some time." He looked at his watch. "I need to check in with my superiors downtown. I'll be in touch." He quickly left.

"I wonder what got him so bothered," Caroline said.

"I'll see if I can check," Dennis said. "Go check in with the troops over by the east gate. I'll be with you in a sec and we can finish with those reports and send them to the Pentagon."

"Got it," Caroline said. She walked off.

Dennis watched her go and smiled before he took out his own cell phone and dialed a number. "It's me. White just got some kind of text message on his cell phone that got him pretty pissed off. Did you have something to do with it or do you know anything about it at all?"

"Yeah, it was Becky who sent the message," Zack said. "Dix and Luke managed to get a hold of White's cell phone number and Becky sent him a message. It was something that more or less taunted him for his men not being able to kill you last night."

"That would get him going," Dennis said.

"Anything that has anything to do with one of us would get him going," Zack said. "White is the worst loser I have ever seen. He's not happy about Becky surviving that fall or me punching him off of a moving car or Becky knocking him out twice."

"He didn't look too happy about seeing Caroline and I alive and well," Dennis agreed. "Did your sister get the picture that Caroline sent?"

"She did," Zack said. "Some of the others are passing Becky's phone around now to have a look. Max and Alec are both still laughing."

"I'm going to have a good laugh myself as soon as I get the chance," Dennis said. "I know that Caroline will, too." He paused. "Zack…take care."

There was a similar pause on the other end of the line. "You too, Dennis."

"Talk to you later." Dennis disconnected the phone and smiled to himself before he walked over to Caroline.

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much again, angelofdarkness78! I'm glad that you're liking this so much!


	38. Chapter 36

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Max sat down at a desk in the control room in Terminal City, going through the Terminal City database and updating it. _Let's see…of the estimated thirty-five hundred tofour thousand survivors of the fire, fifteen hundred of us are now here in T.C. Not bad!_ She clicked on another page and smirked. _Including most of the X9s. I bet White thought that most of them had died in the fire because they're so young. Thank goodness for those other X-series who were near the X9 barracks and grabbed all of them when the fire broke out. There's something else to throw in White's face!_

"You look like you're having fun there, Max," Alec said from his desk next to hers.

"It's not horrible," Max said. "It definitely takes my mind off of everything lately."

"Yeah, it's gotta suck finding out that you're gonna have to have the entire human race," Alec remarked. "I'm jealous, Maxie. I don't have a role in saving the world. I feel so left out."

Max rolled her eyes and reached over and punched him in the arm. "You ass."

"Knock it off with my ass," Alec teased.

"Yeah, if Brin hears me talking about your ass, she'll beat mine to a pulp along with the rest of my body," Max said. She turned back to her work. After hearing no remark from Alec, she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. He looked like he was concentrating on his work but Max swore that she saw a smile on his face. She decided to let the topic rest for now. "Man, I wish that I could get this done and over with."

"This work updating the database or saving the world?" Alec asked.

"Saving the world," Max said. "The prophecy said that things would be set into motion when the blood of The Decoy is in the hands of the enemy and when The One and The Guardian unite. White and his friends got a hold of Becky's blood and we figured out what the prophecy meant by Zack and I uniting. I just wish that it said when Zack and I unite. I know that my next heat is at least five days away, but it didn't say that would be when we'd 'unite.' It could be three months from now in October, it could be six months from now, it could be nine months from now, it could be a year from now, it could even be years from now!" She looked at Alec. "I'm waiting for the 'can't wait to have wild animal sex with your boyfriend' remark."

"What's the point in making that remark? You're obviously being serious," Alec said. "Max, don't worry about it so much. It'll happen when it's meant to happen and you can't force it to happen by acting like this."

"This is the second time you've actually been the voice of reason," Max said suspiciously.

"This time you can blame it on a lack of sleep," Alec said. "For whatever reason, Tony was up almost all night. I stayed up with him so that Brin could sleep. She wore herself down yesterday trying to keep up with those kids in the nursery."

Max smiled. _The subject's been dropped long enough!_ "Speaking of Brin, what's going on with the two of you?"

"You know what's going on with Brin and me," Alec said. "We live in the same apartment and we're raising our son together. End of story."

"No, it's just this particular chapter. The story is far from finished," Max said.

"Are you suggesting that I might actually be in love with Brin?" Alec said.

"Pretty much," Max said. "I'm not blind."

Alec sighed. "I think I am in love with her. It's almost a different feeling with Brin than it was with Rachel, probably because Brin's different than Rachel. I'm glad that Brin's as different as she is. How am I supposed to go about it, though?"

"Holy crap," Max said. "Is this the same man who on his first day at Jam Pony bragged to all of us at Crash that night that he was and never would be at a loss of what to say or do around a woman?" She looked around and saw Becky entering the control room. "Hey, Becky! Didn't Alec run his mouth the night after his first day at Jam Pony about he always knew what to say or do around women?"

"Yeah, why?" Becky asked.

"Your sister-in-law is nagging me about Brin," Alec said.

"Max and Zack aren't married," Becky said.

"Close enough," Alec said. "Can you get her to quit?"

"Nope," Becky said.

"Look, Alec, just tell her how you feel," Max said. _Brin's going to be so thrilled!_ "Brin's a pretty understanding person. Even if she doesn't feel the same way that you do about her, she won't put you down or make you feel bad about it."

"That's a good point," Alec said. "Wow, we're both making sense. I guess in your case we can blame all of this saving-the-world stress, huh?"

"I guess so," Max said.

"Mind if I join the club?" Becky asked. She sat down in a chair near Max and Alec. "This is driving me up the wall too."

"Be my guest," Max said. "I wish I could get this over with."

"I wish that I knew exactly who I'm supposed to be faking out," Becky said. "The prophecy said that you're supposed to fight The Evil One, whoever that is. I personally think that would include almost every Familiar, with the exception of the ones that follow this real prophecy that seems to be happening. I mean, I love pissing off White but should I waste time pissing him off when I'm supposed to be making somebody else angry?"

"I don't know what to say to that," Max said. They were quiet for a moment until Becky grabbed a cloth off of a shelf and started to clean her nine millimeter. "I really don't get it with you and guns."

"What? You know as well as any of us that a weapon needs to be properly maintained," Becky said.

"I know," Max said.

Becky shook her head. "I'm sorry. Don't mind me, I'm a little slow today."

"It's okay," Max said. "Everybody has a slow day once in awhile."

"You need to get over this gun thing, Max," Alec said.

"Tell me something that I haven't heard from somebody else before," Max said.

"He's actually right, though," Becky said.

"Max, seriously," Alec said. "You should at least practice with them if you won't actively use one." He shrugged. "Do you ever think that you'll use one again?"

"No," Max said.

"Really?" Alec said.

"Maybe if it was the most absolute extreme of extreme circumstances," Max said. "And we are talking really extreme. But if it's not, then hell fucking no."

"I guess we'll take it," Becky said.

"I guess you will," Max said. She looked at Becky's gun.

Becky rolled her eyes, but put the gun away. "Okay, okay."

"Thank you," Max said. She turned back to her computer and did a double take and started to laugh. "Did you do this, Becky?"

"This is nice," Alec said, looking at his own monitor.

"I didn't do anything," Becky said. She leaned over to look at their monitors and laughed when she saw that both of their desktop wallpapers were now the picture that Caroline had sent Becky of White when he had seen Caroline and Dennis earlier that day. "I guess that's why Kevin wanted to borrow my cell phone for awhile this morning."

"Either that or make some obscene phone calls," Alec said. Max hit him. "Do I have a 'punch me' sign on my arm?"

"Yeah, you do," Max said sweetly.

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much to angelofdarkness78 and jracklesfan for their reviews and support! aod78, there will be more Max/Zack action coming up before too long, but I might get to some action with other pairings first. Thanks again :)


	39. Chapter 37

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"Do you want to go to sleep now?" Brin asked Anthony as she finished changing his diaper later that evening. "Do you? Does Mommy's little angel want to go to sleep?" She tickled him and grinned when Anthony giggled. She picked him up and carried him over to the crib and set him down in it and gave him a kiss on his forehead. "Sweet dreams, honey."

"Just in time," Alec said from behind her.

"Yeah," Brin said. "How did your workout go in the gym?"

"It was just what I needed after sitting in that chair in the control room for four fu—stupid hours," Alec said. He walked up to the crib and leaned down and kissed Anthony on his forehead. "Get a good night's sleep, big guy. Daddy loves you."

Brin smiled and she and Alec left Anthony's bedroom and went into their own and they sat next to each other on Brin's bed. "He's growing up so quickly. Can you believe that he'll be five months old tomorrow?"

"I can't," Alec admitted. "It seems like yesterday that I went over your old apartment after work the day before he was born and I sat down next to you on the couch to watch that movie with you and I'd barely asked what movie it was that we were watching when your water broke."

"Followed by sixteen hours of fun," Brin said dryly. "That was some experience. But it was so absolutely worth it when I heard him crying and when Maggie said that it was a boy…"

"Yeah," Alec said softly. "When Maggie handed him to us, it was so incredible…" They sat quietly together for a few moments. "He'll be walking soon. I wonder when he'll start to walk."

"That's a good question," Brin said. "I know that we started to walk really early, but they kind of pushed us to do it. He's already a speed demon on four legs, so I'm guessing he'll be taking his first steps within the next month. I think I read somewhere that ordinary babies start walking somewhere close to a year, sometimes as early as eight or nine months."

"This is my son," Alec said proudly. "He'll be taking his first steps by this time a week from now, never mind this time a month from now."

"I'll ignore that on the condition that his first words aren't 'strip club,'" Brin teased.

"Nope. It'll be 'Daddy,'" Alec said.

"No way. He's gonna say 'Mommy' before he says 'Daddy,'" Brin insisted.

"You wish," Alec said.

"I do," Brin said.

"I wish that maybe we could be together," Alec said quietly. _I guess I might as well get right to the point. Like I said to Max and Becky earlier today, I can't think of any other way to say this._

Brin blinked. _He'd better mean what I think he means! Please, please, please!_ "Alec, I don't know."

"Okay, I shouldn't have been so blunt," Alec admitted.

"No, I like it that you went right out and said it," Brin said. "I honestly do. I just—no, I—well, let's just say that I'm a little tongue-tied."

"I don't blame you," Alec said. He winced. "Damn, I didn't want to sound so much like…myself."

Brin laughed a little. "You are who you are. I like who you are." She blushed. "I love who you are. I love you."

Alec sat there for a moment. "Brin, I…I love you, too."

"Are you sure?" Brin asked hopefully.

"Yes," Alec said. "I'm sure. I love you."

"Even after Rachel?" Brin asked. She remembered how devastated Alec had been when Rachel Beresford had died hours after he'd gone to see her.

"Yes," Alec said. "I think I might have been starting to let go of her since I got thrown in Psy Ops. I wouldn't have slept with you at all when they paired us up if I hadn't been starting to let Rachel go subconsciously."

"I remember that," Brin said. "You didn't sleep with me for the first three days that we were paired up. You gave me that lame line about wanting to get inside a woman's mind first before you get inside her pants." They both laughed. "I found that funny for some dumb reason." She sighed. "I was partly relieved because you are Ben's twin but I was also partly disappointed for some reason. I guess maybe I was falling for you then. I didn't know it then, but when I think about it now, you know?"

"Yeah, I heard somebody say once that cats have a hard time seeing what's right under their noses," Alec agreed.

"What was weird was the day that Anthony was conceived, I felt warmer than normal all day during training and classes and I could see the guys looked like they wanted to jump me, but I didn't want to jump them," Brin said. "But the second you walked into my cell that night…"

"Oh, I remember that," Alec said with a grin. "I don't remember much after that before I woke up the next...when did we wake up?"

Brin punched him in the arm, also grinning. "A day-and-a-half later. We were so lucky that the guards were ordered not to interrupt pairs where the female was in heat if they went past the allotted time." She looked thoughtful. "Does that technically make us mated? It's not that I don't want to be your mate, Alec, but I think that we have at least a little ways to go in our relationship before we get there, even though we kind of went ass-backwards to get to where we are now."

"Yeah, we went straight for the sex and the kid part," Alec joked. He looked serious. "I don't think we are. I think even if we subconsciously were falling for each other then, we also knew deep down that we weren't ready to be mated, even if you did hold out for me. We didn't mark each other."

"True," Brin said. "So…what now?"

"We do what any couple with a baby who just got to sleep does," Alec said.

"Enjoy the quiet and watch TV?" Brin said.

"Yeah," Alec said. They both laughed. "There should be a boxing match on."

"Sweet," Brin said. "For some reason, I always liked watching boxing."

"I knew there was a reason that I love you," Alec said.

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much to angelofdarkness78, hphotshot, and poptart for their reviews and support! hphotshot, I forget if it was you or your brother who asked the question before, but Sam (X5-453) isn't in this fic at all so she won't have anything to do with the prophecy. poptart, as for your questions…stay tuned. Thank you all so much again! It means a lot to me.


	40. Chapter 38a

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"It looks like our target is all nice and shut down for the night," Jeff said quietly as he zoomed in on the store that he and Rob were planning on pulling a heist.

"Everything looks good," Rob agreed. "Did you really think that it wouldn't be, ni—Jeff?"

"You never can be too careful," Jeff said. He tried not to roll his eyes. _Whose brilliant idea was it to put me and Rob together to pull off this heist? Oh yeah, that guy Trent from Rob's unit was supposed to go with him but he hurt himself sparring this afternoon and I happened to be in the room and available to go tonight._ "Let's get in there."

"Take point, I'm right behind you," Rob said.

The two of them edged closer to the store. "There's not a lot of people around. This is good."

"Who'd honestly want to be in this neighborhood at this time of night?" Rob said.

"I don't know," Jeff said. _I will not strangle him. I will not strangle him. I will not strangle him._ "Did you hear something?"

"It was only a dog," Rob said.

"Are you sure?" Jeff asked.

"I think I know what a dog sounds like, Jeff," Rob said.

"Sorry," Jeff said. "I've gotten a little more paranoid over the last few months."

"You have been through a lot," Rob conceded. They continued to move closer to the store, but stopped suddenly. "There are people in the area. They're watching us."

"Not good," Jeff said. He put a hand to his earpiece. "Control, this is Jeff. We've got a possible situation. Rob and I hear people in the area and we believe them to be observing us. Possible Familiar activity. Do you copy?"

"We copy," Dix said. "Get back to your car and abort the heist. We need the two of you safe. We can always send other people out somewhere else to get the money and other supplies."

"Got it," Jeff said. "We'll see you soon." He turned to Rob. "Well, this has been a pointless trip out."

"Do you have to whine about everything?" Rob said. They turned around and walked casually back towards where they had parked the car that they'd taken out of Terminal City. "Maybe we didn't accomplish what we had set out to do, but you do not have to complain about it."

_If we weren't in public, I'd definitely try to beat the shit out of him right now!_ "I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, Rob."

Rob shrugged. "Whatever."

"Fine," Jeff said. "Wait a sec…crap, we're being tailed. I'm counting at least two people…no, now four..."

"…and now seven," Rob said grimly. "Son-of-a-bitch."

"Let's just get back to the car," Jeff said. Suddenly, he and Rob ducked and just missed being nailed by the tranquilizer darts that were just shot at them. Jeff took out his nine millimeter and began to shoot. "They're coming at us from behind, but if we fire quickly…Rob? Rob?" He turned and realized that Rob was no longer next to him. He heard Rob running towards the car and raced after him, but Rob had gotten too big of a head start. He heard Rob yell something and then a car door slammed and tires screeched. By the time Jeff ran around the corner, the car was gone. "Rob, damnit!"

_I can't worry about Rob now!_ Jeff turned around and threw a punch at a Familiar and suddenly, he found himself surrounded by another six. _Even if these guys are at the same level as someone like Vance or Christian, there's still a lot more of them than there are of me…here goes nothing!_ He threw himself into the fight, punching and kicking in a blur of motion. He took down two of the Familiars before he got caught from behind as he tried to hit another one. Jeff hit the ground hard and he started to get up, but somebody nailed him with a Taser. He fought it, but he couldn't and he felt the Familiars kick him while he was writhing on the ground. He heard some footsteps and then a voice that he recognized immediately.

"I'll be damned," White said. He leaned over at Jeff and smiled. "It's 941. One of 405's precious friends. Maybe even her boyfriend. One of my friends said that the two of you looked pretty close and cozy during that hostage situation back in March."

"Fuck you," Jeff said. He spit in White's direction.

"You would think that with all that they put into you animals that they would teach you freaks some manners," White said. He kicked Jeff in the stomach. "You little bastard."

"I could say the same thing about you," Jeff said. He glared at White and tried to get up, but was shot with the Taser again and fell back to the ground, gasping in pain. "Asshole."

"I think that somebody needs to take their nap," White said patronizingly. He took out a syringe from his pocket. "Who wants to take his sedative?"

"Go screw yourself," Jeff said defiantly.

"You really have a lot of spirit," White said. "What a shame." He waited for three of the other Familiars to hold Jeff down before he leaned down and injected the sedative into Jeff's arm. "Have a nice nap, 941."

"My name…is Jeff," Jeff managed to say before he passed out.

TBC


	41. Chapter 38b

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"Max, can you help me find that equipment that Dix wanted?" Zack asked as he looked around on a shelf in the control room.

"Sure," Max said. She leaned forward so that her lips were right next to Zack's right ear. "I can also find something else if I wanted to. I bet I know exactly where that certain something is."

Zack closed his eyes. "Maxie, I'd love to, but we're in public. When we get back to our apartment, we will, but let's finish this work first."

"Are you in heat now?" Riley teased.

"No, I've got at least four days to go until then," Max said. She rolled her eyes.

"Four days until Zack gets laid like never before," Alec said gleefully. "Hey, maybe you and Max shouldn't get busy when you get back to your apartment. I had sex with Brin when she was in heat back in the breeding program back at Manticore and if Max is anything like her and if you are anything like me, then you are going to need to save all of the energy that you can."

"Alec, can it," Max said.

"Okay, okay, okay," Alec said.

"Thanks," Krit said. "I thought that I was going to hurl."

"Immature brat," Max said under her breath.

"I heard that," Krit said.

"Yikes, and they told us to obey an X5's orders back at Manticore?" Riley said skeptically. "That was a great move there. That reminds me, when will Jeff be getting back from his heist with our own Mr. Full-of-It?"

"They only left twenty minutes ago," Dix reminded her. "There's no ETA for their return yet."

"I bet Becky can't wait for Jeff to get back," Alec remarked.

"Watch it," Zack warned him.

"Okay, okay," Alec said. "I'm sorry that I made a remark that came even remotely close to implying anything about Becky."

"For somebody who was as hot shit as Jeff and Biggs and Sasha and everybody says that you were back at Manticore, you sure do back down from somebody easily," Max teased.

"Let's take a look at the tape, shall we?" Alec said. "That first time, I was outnumbered two to one, one of whom was Becky who kicked my ass only the day before. This time, I wasn't outnumbered, but I was back down by somebody who under normal circumstances I might be able to take down though not without a lot of pain and bloodshed, but has an enormous protective complex when it comes to his siblings." He gave Max a cocky grin. "I didn't get my rank at Manticore by being stupid."

"I guess Renfro or whoever promoted you must have been—"

"Control, this is Jeff. We've got a possible situation. Rob and I hear people in the area and we believe them to be observing us. Possible Familiar activity. Do you copy?"

"We copy," Dix said. He motioned for the others in the room to be quiet. "Get back to your car and abort the heist. We need the two of you safe. We can always send other people out somewhere else to get the money and other supplies."

"Got it," Jeff said. "We'll see you soon." There was a brief pause. "Well, this was a pointless trip out."

"You forgot to turn your earpiece off again," Riley muttered, snickering softly.

"Do you have to whine about everything? Maybe we didn't accomplish what we had set out to do, but you do not have to complain about it," Rob said.

"The little bastard still doesn't know how to shut his mouth," Alec observed.

"I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, Rob."

"Whatever."

"Fine. Wait a sec…crap, we're being tailed." They all froze, their eyes and ears focused on Dix's computer speakers. "I'm counting at least two people…no, now four…"

"…and now seven. Son-of-a-bitch."

"Get out of there, get out of there…" Max murmured.

"Let's just get back to the car." There was the faint sound of something, possibly darts, being shot and then a gun firing. "They're coming at us from behind, but if we fire quickly…Rob? Rob?" The others looked at each other, confused. They hadn't heard somebody being shot or a body hitting the ground. They heard noises, as if Jeff was running and Rob yelling something that was hard to understand. Their eyes widened in shock as they heard a car door slam and tires squeal and Jeff's frustrated yell. "Rob, damnit!" Then there was the sound of fighting and they felt their stomachs drop at the sound of Jeff hitting the ground and the unmistakable sound of a Taser being shot, followed by feet kicking Jeff.

Dix shook his head. "His tracking signal just went out. One of the people who attacked Jeff must have accidentally destroyed the transmitter when they were kicking him."

"I'll be damned."

Max's jaw dropped. _Oh God, no. This isn't happening. This isn't real._

"It's 941. One of 405's precious friends. Maybe even her boyfriend. One of my friends said that the two of you looked pretty close and cozy during that hostage situation back in March."

"Fuck you," Jeff said. They heard him spit at somebody.

"You would think that with all that they put into you animals that they would teach you freaks some manners." There was the sound of a foot kicking Jeff again, hard. "You little bastard."

"I could say the same thing about you." There was the faint scraping noise of Jeff trying to pick himself up off of a sidewalk and then a Taser again and Jeff gasping in pain. "Asshole."

"I think that somebody needs to take their nap."

"Could he sound any more like a prick?" Krit said, furious.

"Who wants to take his sedative?"

"Go screw yourself."

"That's my big brother," Riley said proudly.

"You really have a lot of spirit. What a shame." There was another pause. "Have a nice nap, 941."

"My name…is Jeff." They heard Jeff sigh softly, as if he had just passed out.

"What should we do with the freak, Brother White?" a different voice asked. "Should we kill 941?"

"No, no, no…" Riley said desperately.

"We won't kill him yet," White said. There was static.

"He must have destroyed Jeff's comm.," Dix said grimly.

They were all silent for a few moments. Max felt almost like she was going to pass out. _White has Jeff. He's going to kill him. If and when White moves Jeff, we won't know where he is. Rob—wait, Jeff sounded pretty pissed that Rob apparently bailed on him._ She calmed down a little. "Did any of you catch what Rob said as he apparently bailed? Riley?"

"No, even I couldn't hear it clearly," Riley admitted.

"Dix, can you get that audio for us?" Max asked.

"Of course," Dix said. He worked quickly. "Here it goes. I took out the background noises that were obscuring Rob's voice. The only things that we'll be hearing will be Rob's and Jeff's voices." He hit a few keys and clicked with his mouse.

"—from behind, but if we fire quickly…Rob? Rob?"

"Fuck you, Jeff. I'm getting out of here."

"Rob, damnit!"

"Cut it now," Max said coldly. She couldn't believe it. _Rob deliberately left Jeff behind so that he could save his own sorry ass? Because Rob was too damn self-centered, Jeff could be dead right now?_

"That fucking bastard! He fucking left Jeff behind on purpose? That stupid mother…" Riley's temper was as fiery as her hair.

"Riley, cool it," Max said. "Let's wait until that asshole gets here." _I'm almost feeling sorry for Rob, and he's really going to be in for it when…_ She turned to Zack. "Becky. She's back in her apartment."

"Like you said to Riley, let's wait until we get what Rob passes off as his side of the story," Zack said. He narrowed his eyes. "Not that it matters what the little prick says."

"What's going on?" Mia asked as she came into the control room.

"Jeff and Rob were ambushed when they went out on their heist," Max said. "Rob left Jeff behind deliberately so that he could get away and White has Jeff and is planning on killing him. It's all on the audio feed from Jeff's earpiece comm. He left it on."

"Do you need my help when Rob gets here?" Mia offered.

"Mia, you're an angel," Max said. "This isn't Manticore, so…"

"I won't go full-out torturing," Mia said. "That wasn't my department, anyway. Those ordinary soldiers were in charge of the physical torture in Psy Ops. Can I listen to the audio?"

"Go ahead, Dix has it on his terminal," Max said. "When is the asshole getting back here?"

"Judging by the rate that his tracking signal is moving, less than five minutes," Dix said.

"Good," Riley said angrily. "I can't wait to beat some sense into the bastard."

They waited tensely for minutes before Rob burst into the room, out of breath. "Something's wrong. I don't know where Jeff is. We were leaving the area when…" He looked around at the angry faces. "What the hell is this?"

"This would be us not believing a word you said," Max said. "We know that you left Jeff behind deliberately so that you could have an easy getaway."

"Oh come on," Rob said. "You actually think that I deliberately left Jeff behind? I know that Jeff and Riley and Jeff's girlfriend and others have told you that I'm hard to get along with, but that's no reason to jump on my case."

"Hard to get along with is a huge fucking understatement," Riley growled. "We don't think that you left Jeff behind on purpose, we know that you left Jeff behind on purpose you fucking dipshit."

"Riley," Max warned.

"I'd apologize, but I'm not sorry at all," Riley said.

"Rob, you're going to listen to me and you are going to listen to me very well," Max said icily. "Jeff accidentally left his earpiece on after he made that first report back here about you guys possibly being watched. We heard the whole thing. Thanks to modern technology, we even got to hear the part where you told Jeff and I quote 'Fuck you, Jeff. I'm getting out of here.' Because you weren't around to help him, Jeff is now in White's hands and there's a damn good chance that he could be dead and we don't know where he is because his transmitter was destroyed. Now what do you have to say?"

"I'd say that you're bluffing," Rob insisted.

"Why would we bluff about something like this?" Zack hissed. "You were the hot shit soldier. I know that you can figure this out, can't you?"

"Confuse the enemy," Rob said, smirking cruelly. "I remember learning that one when I was little, so I know that even you pathetic '09ers know that one."

"Let's just calm down, everybody," Mia said. "You guys don't mind if I talk with Rob, do you?"

"He's all yours, Mia," Max said.

"Mia? Who's Mia?" Rob asked. He turned his head and paled when he saw Mia. "Crap, 400."

"My name is Mia, sweetie," Mia said. She walked up to Rob and smiled. "Now, what were you and Jeff doing at approximately twelve-thirty tonight or this morning, depending on your point-of-view?"

"We—you know what we were doing, right?" Rob said. He was clearly trying to fight Mia.

"Sweetie, can you please tell me?" Mia asked again, her voice never losing its light tone.

"We were preparing to execute a heist at a store in sector one," Rob said, his voice almost eerily mechanical.

Mia nodded. "Good. Why was Jeff with you on the heist? When I was in here the other day, I saw you and your unit mate Trent planning a heist. Trent said that the heist was to be executed at this time on this day, so why was Jeff with you and not Trent?"

"Trent was injured early this afternoon sparring against Rin, another unit mate of mine and his," Rob replied. "Trent sustained a broken left femur and was ordered not to engage in any sort of physical activity for a minimum of four days. Jeff was available at this time, so it was decided that he would go with me on this heist."

"That's good," Mia said. "Now, Rob, why did you leave Jeff behind when the Familiars started to attack the two of you as you were heading back to the car?"

"I wanted to get out of there," Rob said.

"Okay, but why? Did you believe that you and Jeff together wouldn't be able to take down the seven Familiars that attacked?" Mia asked.

"No, I believed that with Jeff's and my abilities, we could have taken out the Familiars or at least have taken out enough Familiars for us to get away," Rob said.

"Oh? Then why did you leave Jeff behind?" Mia wondered.

"I do not like Jeff," Rob said. "I believe that Jeff is a threat to me. He has been a threat to me for years, to my position and he took the one who I want to mate with, even though she herself is a threat to my position as well, though not as immediately as Jeff is."

"That doesn't sound like a good reason to me," Mia said. "That doesn't sound like anything close to a good reason. Rob, were you consciously thinking any of these thoughts when you bailed out on Jeff?"

"I'm not sure," Rob said. "It was probably in the back of my mind. I know that my not liking Jeff was in the back of my mind, if not close to the front, but I wasn't consciously thinking of the exact reasons why I do not like Jeff at the time that I made the decision."

"Now, Rob, you're going to do me a favor," Mia said. "Whatever they decide to do to you, you won't resist them. It will be very messy if you resist. I know that you think that you can take on one of the X5s in the room and I know that your abilities are higher, but Riley is here also and you are very outnumbered. Okay? You do know that you won't remember this, right?" She blinked. "Rob?"

"What?" Rob said irritably. "Why the hell are you all looking at me like that?"

"Because we just heard the entire talk that you just had with Mia," Max said. "How dare you, Rob? You know damn well that you never leave somebody behind in enemy territory! Riley, get those cuffs from the cabinet and cuff Rob and take him to the basement and lock him up in one of those rooms for now."

"What are you going to do, kill me?" Rob sneered. He didn't resist Riley when she cuffed him, though.

Max looked him right in the eye. Rob flinched at the look that she was giving him. "Pray that we find Jeff somehow before White kills him." She turned away as Riley led Rob off and she felt everything finally get to her and she started to shake from fear and shock. "Oh my God. This is my fault."

"This isn't your fault, Maxie," Zack said. "This is White's fault and it's Rob's fault for deliberately leaving Jeff behind like that."

"If I wasn't destined to save the world," Max sobbed. "Then Becky wouldn't be my decoy and White wouldn't want to destroy the people who she cares about the most."

"Go tell Becky. I'll stay here with Max," Krit said softly. He watched as Zack walked away slowly before he walked to Max and hugged her. "It's okay, Maxie. This will turn out okay. Jeff's a tough kid. We'll find him."

"Will we?" Max said. "White said that he wanted to kill Jeff. He could have done it already! Jeff could already be dead!"

"No news is good news until we hear otherwise, Maxie," Krit said. "It'll be okay. It'll be okay."

"It won't," Max said. She buried her face in Krit's shoulder and cried.

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much to angelofdarkness78, hphotshot, poptart, and jracklesfan77 for their reviews and support! It's going to be action-action for the next few parts (with some angst), but there will be more Max/Zack. Don't worry, I won't keep you guys waiting for too long. :) hphotshot, here's a little bit about the character of Rob. Rob's designation is 224. He was mentioned several times in "Together" and I finally had him actually appear towards the beginning of this fic. I was actually going to have Rob appear in this fic again earlier and with a darker storyline or whatever, but I decided against it (mostly because it would have made me change the rating of this fic and I'm too lazy to do that :) ). I hope this helps and thank you all so much again!


	42. Chapter 38c

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Notes: Spoilers/spoiler-ish stuff for "Meow," "…And Jesus Brought A Casserole," and "Designate This."

Zack walked down the street, not looking forward to what he had to do. _I hate this. I hate telling family bad news. How is Becky going to take this? _He sighed. _I didn't take it too well when I realized that Lydecker had gotten Max when we tried to rescue Tinga, but I knew who to go to so that I could get Max back. But those three months when I thought…_ He mentally shook his head. _We don't have any proof that Jeff is dead. There is no way in hell that Becky will have to wait as long as Max or I did about each other. If I have anything to do about it, she will not have to go through that kind of pain for that long._

He entered the apartment building where Becky lived and walked up the stairs to the fourth floor and down the hall and stopped at the door of Becky and Maggie's apartment. He took a deep breath before he knocked on the door. Nobody answered it. "Becky?"

"Hang on a minute," he heard Maggie say irritably from inside the apartment. A moment later, the door opened and Maggie stood there, rubbing her eyes. "She's still sleeping and you just woke me up and…" Maggie looked up at Zack and grew worried. She'd seen the same look on Becky's face before. "Zack, is something wrong? Is somebody hurt? Who's hurt?"

"Where's Becky?" Zack asked.

"I'm right here," Becky mumbled. She walked into the living room and froze when she saw Zack. "Zack, what's wrong? Is everybody okay?"

"No," Zack said. He entered the apartment and Maggie shut the door. "Becky, something went wrong on Jeff's heist tonight."

"Jeff's okay, right?" Becky said. "He's just down in the med bay banged up and probably really pissed off, but he's okay, right?"

"No," Zack said.

Becky tried to fight the hysteria that she suddenly felt. "Zack, he's not…"

"We don't know," Zack said. "We don't know what his status is."

"What do you mean? What exactly happened?" Maggie asked.

Zack sat down on the couch. Becky sat down next to him and Maggie sat in the armchair. "I was in the control room on my shift with Max, Riley, Krit, and Alec and the others and we were going about our business when Jeff radioed in about people, possibly Familiars, watching him and Rob. Jeff accidentally left his earpiece on, so we heard everything that happened next."

"Oh my God," Becky said. Her face went nearly white. "White has Jeff."

"He does," Zack said grimly. "Jeff and Rob picked up that they were being tailed by about seven people, Familiars as it turned out. Jeff took out a few of them, we think about two or three, but there were too many for even Jeff to take down and they tasered him and kicked him so he'd stay down and then White came on the scene. He realized who Jeff was and after they tasered Jeff again when he tried to get back up, he sedated Jeff. He said something about wanting to kill Jeff but not yet before he destroyed Jeff's earpiece."

"When are we moving out?" Becky asked immediately.

Zack shook his head. "One of the Familiars destroyed Jeff's transmitter when they had him on the ground and were kicking him. We don't know where he is."

"No," Becky whispered. "No, Jeff." She bit her lip and tried to hold it together. "How could…wait a minute, as much as I can't believe I'm asking this question, what about Rob?"

Zack's eyes and voice grew cold. "Rob left Jeff behind on purpose."

Becky and Maggie were speechless. When Becky spoke again, her voice was even colder than Zack's. "What?"

"On the audio, before Jeff fought against the Familiars and after they tried to shoot Jeff and Rob with what sounded like tranquilizer darts, we heard Rob yell something a second or two before we heard the car pull away," Zack said. "Not even Riley could make it out because of the background noise, so Dix cleaned up the audio and Rob had said 'Fuck you, Jeff. I'm getting out of here.'"

"He left Jeff behind in enemy territory on purpose?" Maggie said angrily.

"He did," Zack said. "Mia confirmed it. Apparently, Rob hates Jeff because he believe Jeff is a threat to him. To his position, I guess as the leader of the X6 squad from Seattle, to everything…" He trailed off and looked at Becky.

"To me!" Becky said. She got up and started to pace. "You're fucking telling me that Rob put Jeff in danger because of some fucked up Alpha male bullshit complex that he's got!"

"Basically," Zack said.

Becky continued to pace. "That son-of-a-bitch. That mother—"

"Swearing about it won't help," Zack said.

"What will? I can't do anything else! Jeff's out there somewhere and he could be dead because I'm number one on White's shit list and because Rob transcended practically all known levels of bastard and I can't do anything to save Jeff! I can't do a fucking thing!" She broke down in tears. Zack and Maggie both went up to her and hugged her.

"Becky, it's okay," Zack comforted her. "It's okay. Jeff will be okay."

"How do you know?" Becky said, still crying.

"You know how White thinks," Zack said. "If he does kill Jeff, he'll make sure that we find out. He'll want to taunt you with it. As long as we don't hear anything from White, we've got hope and most importantly, we've got time to find Jeff and get him back."

"He's right," Maggie said.

"You are right," Becky said. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. "You are right. I have to believe it. We will find Jeff and he'll be okay. If I can survive a ten-story fall into a dumpster, Jeff can live through this." Her voice became angry again. "Speaking of betraying bastards, what's going to happen with Rob?"

"We've got him locked and chained up in the main building," Zack said. "We don't know exactly what we're going to do about him. Right now the top priority in this situation is to find Jeff. We'll let you know when we get a planning session going."

"Got it," Maggie said.

Zack smiled at Becky. "Why don't you get back to sleep? The sooner you get back to sleep, the sooner we'll be able to get some concrete planning going."

"I will," Becky said.

"It's okay to be scared, baby sister," Zack said. He gave Becky another hug.

"I'm terrified," Becky admitted. "I love him, Zack. I really love Jeff."

"I know you do," Zack said. He let go of Becky.

"You look like you could use some sleep, too," Becky observed.

"Yeah, I'm wiped," Zack admitted. "Take care?"

"I will," Becky promised. "You do the same."

"I will," Zack said. He turned around and left the apartment and walked back to his building and up to his and Max's apartment and let himself in. "Maxie?"

"She's sleeping," Krit said. He sighed. "How did Becky take it?"

"I guess how I expected her to take it," Zack said. "How's Maxie?"

"She's still beating herself up about how she thinks this is her fault," Krit said. "I don't know, man. I don't know."

"I don't know either," Zack said. They stood there quietly. "I should be getting into bed. I'll see you in the morning."

"I'll see you then," Krit said. He left the apartment.

Zack walked into the bedroom and bit his lip when he saw Max sleeping on the bed and the tearstains on her face. "Maxie," he whispered.

Max stirred and blinked. "Zack?"

"I didn't want to wake you up," Zack said.

"Zack, I'm sorry," Max said.

"Max, what happened to Jeff is not your fault," Zack said. "Please understand. It's not your fault at all." He quickly got ready for bed and slid in next to Max. "Maxie, it's okay."

"I hope so," Max said. She reached out and held Zack close and fell asleep.

TBC

More notes: Thank you so much to poptart, angelofdarkness78, and hphotshot for their reviews and support! hphotshot, they don't want to re-create Psy Ops because they know how much hell it was for them to go through it, but Rob crossed the line so something will happen with him, though I'm not sure exactly what at this point. aod78, about Jeff and Becky, we'll see. I will try to throw in a little more Max/Zack between now and when they 'unite,' though. Thank you all so much again!


	43. Chapter 39

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Notes: Spoilers/spoiler-ish stuff for "Pollo Loco," "Hit A Sista Back," and "Meow."

"Wakie-wakie, Maxie," an annoyingly familiar voice said to Max.

Max groaned and buried her head under the pillow. "Alec, I have no idea how you got into the apartment but if you do not leave in the next few seconds, I will kill you."

"Our Maxie here isn't a morning person," Alec said cheerfully.

"No shit I'm not a morning person! I barely get any kind of sleep as it is so I'm not happy when I'm interrupted when I do actually get sleep! Now get the hell out!"

"Okay. I think I'll see what you've got for breakfast."

"Damnit, Alec," Max said. She pulled the pillow off of her head and turned around and sat up, ready to verbally blast Alec but blinked. _Where did he go?_ She turned and didn't see Zack lying next to her in bed. _Where's Zack? He always waits for me to get up when I actually sleep before he gets out of bed. Maybe Becky's having a really hard time dealing…_ Everything from the night before hit her hard. _Of course it would hit her hard! She's in love with Jeff and because of me, he could be dead._

She wiped her eyes and looked around and frowned. _Why is it this quiet? I don't hear Alec in the kitchen, I don't hear those X3s in the apartment next door, I don't even hear any noise from outside! It's way too quiet._ She turned around and looked at the alarm clock and didn't see anything on it. _Did the power go out?_

Max shrugged it off and got out of bed and got dressed. _This is too damn weird. I wish I knew what was going on here._ She walked out of her bedroom and into the living room and finally heard noises coming from the kitchen. _Oh goody, Alec invited some friends here. Most of them sound so familiar, but I don't recognize them._

"That is so weak. Do I look like an idiot?"

"You kind of do, short stuff."

"Will you please try to behave yourselves? This is somebody else's apartment."

Max froze. _That was Tinga's voice._ She walked towards the kitchen and looked inside. She saw Alec sitting on the counter drinking a cup of coffee and Tinga and five other young men and three other young women, all of them about their age. They all looked incredibly familiar to her. _Who are they?_ "Tinga, you're dead."

"Yeah, we all kinda are," Alec remarked. "Except you, of course."

_We all…it's not Alec?_ "Ben?" Max said in disbelief.

"You see his twin on a daily basis so you should be able to recognize him," one of the other young men said.

Max's jaw dropped. "Kenny!"

"Yeah, it's me," Kenny said. "Would I have grown up handsome or what?"

"Not bad," Max said. She grinned and went over and hugged him.

"Not bad if you prefer idiots," the shortest person said.

"Elle," Max said. She leaned down and hugged her. "I guess so much for that late growth spurt you were always swearing that you'd get, huh?"

"Yeah, Jace was the lucky one who got the growth spurt," Elle said.

"Quit complaining, big sister," one of the men said.

"Jack!" Max said. She hugged him and then hugged Eva, Gale, Parker, Tinga, Ben, Dash, and Reese. "I can't believe it's you guys! I've missed you all so much."

"We've missed you too, Maxie," Reese said. "We're worried about you."

"I can hardly imagine why," Max deadpanned.

"Maxie, sit down," Tinga said gently. Max sat down next to her at the kitchen table. "Max, you shouldn't take this so hard. What's happening to Jeff is not your fault."

"I know, that's what Zack said," Max said.

"He's right," Parker said.

"Max, you might be the one who is going to save the world, but there are some things that you don't have any control over," Tinga said. "White is the most sadistic person I've ever seen. He's holding Jeff because of his own nature and of his own will, not because of you. You know how bad of a loser he is."

"I thought I was bad when my side lost that game of Capture the Flag a few months before I died, but this guy is ridiculous," Dash said.

"You said that White's holding Jeff. He's still alive?" Max said hopefully.

"He is," Tinga said. "We can't tell you more than that, but Jeff's alive."

"Yeah, these heavenly cosmic rules on telling people stuff suck," Gale said.

"You can't control White's personality or his behavior," Tinga said. "What you can control are what you do about his actions. He has Jeff and maybe you don't know where he is or what his condition is and most everybody doesn't know if he's even alive, but you need to take charge and find him and get him back."

"I know," Max said. "I will, I just…"

Tinga smiled sympathetically. "I know how much stress you've been under lately. I'm both impressed and proud that you haven't broken until now. I don't know how you managed to deal with it. If I found out that I would be the one to save the world, I would have lost it from the minute that I was told."

"You are one of the strongest people I've ever known while I was alive or observed since I've died," Eva said. "You can do this, Maxie. I know that you can."

"You always liked a challenge before. Why stop now?" Jack said.

"You're right," Max said. "Why should I stop facing a challenge?" She snorted. "Some would argue that being an '09er would mean the opposite."

"But you could also argue that we had the balls to break free," Kenny said.

"You've always given it your best," Tinga said.

"I haven't always succeeded," Max said. "Tinga, I promised Case I would get you back and I didn't."

"You kept him safe, though," Tinga said. "You couldn't help what Renfro did to me. What matters most to me is that you kept Case safe and I can't thank you enough for that. I'm still with him and Charlie. Not physically, but I am still with them everyday."

Ben smiled at her. "You did the right thing with me, Max. I was past the point of no return. If I lived, I would have continued hunting people down and killing them or if Manticore had gotten a hold of me, God only knows what they would have done. I'm at peace with myself now. I am myself again."

Max felt a huge weight lift off of her shoulders. "Thanks, you guys."

"You will always be our baby sister," Elle said. "No matter what, we will always be looking out for you and we'll be there with you."

"Except maybe when you and Zack finally do the deed when you're in heat," Ben said with a cheeky grin.

"Oh great, they really are twins," Max groaned.

"I had to put up with that moron by myself for five years after we escaped!" Reese said. "The year between when Zack found us and split us up and when I died was heaven on Earth. Peace and quiet."

"If you weren't dead, I'd kill you for that," Ben said.

"Behave, please?" Tinga said.

"Yes, Mommy," Ben and Reese said in unison.

Max and the others laughed. "Some things never change. I'm glad this hasn't."

"So are we," Jack said.

* * *

Max blinked and looked around the bedroom. Zack was sleeping next to her and there was no sign of Tinga or Ben or any of the others. _That was a dream…I think. It was them. I know that it was really them. I know that was really Tinga, Ben, Parker, Kenny, Elle, Reese, Jack, Eva, Dash, and Gale. They're right._

Zack stirred and looked at Max and smiled when he saw the depressed look gone from her eyes. "Did you have a good night's sleep, Maxie?"

"I did," Max said. "It was exactly what I needed." She looked over at their alarm clock. "Five a.m. It sounds like a perfect time to get ready and start planning, don't you think?"

"Absolutely," Zack said. "I'll call Becky."

"Gotcha," Max said. She reached for the nightstand for her cell phone and dialed Krit.

"Yeah, what is it?" Krit muttered.

"Get your ass and Syl's out of bed and meet us in the control room," Max said. "It's time to try to get Jeff back."

TBC

More notes: Thank you so much to jracklesfan77 for your review and support!


	44. Chapter 40

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Notes: Spoiler-ish stuff for various season 2 episodes (like I've said before, I haven't watched too much of season 2).

"Hey, buddy, how's it going?" Stephen asked White cheerfully the next day as he walked into the building where White was holding Jeff.

"The usual," White said. "Where's Carrie? Did you bring her into town with you?"

"No," Stephen said. "As a matter of fact, your wife is watching her while I'm visiting you here." He looked over at Jeff, who was chained up and unconscious. "I like the medieval dungeon prisoner chains set up you've got going with 941."

"I was in the mood for something classical," White agreed.

Stephen nodded. "Golden oldies indeed. How's the little bastard doing?"

"He's unconscious right now," White said. "I'd let you take a turn practicing your right hook on him, but I just finished practicing mine only about an hour ago and I want him to rest. I'm not planning on killing him quite yet. He will die, but he'll die when I'm planning on him dying."

Stephen looked at Jeff and smiled. Jeff's shirt had been ripped off and his skin, or at least what skin was visible and that wasn't bruised or had dried blood on it was so pale he was nearly as white as a sheet. His right eye was black as midnight and swollen shut and his brown hair was disheveled and some of it also had dried blood in it. "You do some nice work, buddy."

"Thank you," White said.

"It's sad," Stephen said. "If it wasn't black-and-blue all over and bloody, it would look like it should be playing touch football with his friends on its summer vacation from college. It's amazing how something so hideous can be hidden under something so good-looking and innocent-looking." He looked serious. "Have you tested him?"

White shook his head. "No. When I let the Conclave know that I had 941 in my possession, I asked if I should test him and they said that since we've already tested a freak of his generation, testing 941 wouldn't be necessary."

"Okay," Stephen said. "Speaking of the testing, how did it turn out with the freaks?"

"They all survived," White said. "The two anomalies we tested recovered within thirty-six hours. The X3 recovered within twenty-four hours, and the X5, X6, and X9 all recovered within twelve hours. It would be interesting to test 405 or even 452. I'd love to see how their perfect DNA would react, especially 405's."

"That would be interesting," Stephen agreed. "Did you run an analysis on 941's DNA?"

"I had an analysis run," White said. "941 does have junk DNA. His genetic sequence is as good as a transgenic's can get with the exception of 405 and 452, but he does have junk DNA.

"I'm not sure if I should be relieved or disappointed," Stephen said. "Have you heard about the status of the virus?"

"It's nearing perfection," White said. "According to the Conclave, everything is right on schedule. It should be perfected within a month or two and then it won't be too much longer until we'll release it to the humans. As for the transgenics, we'll kill them. We greatly outnumber them and if we make sure that they're contained in Terminal City or that they don't scatter too far after the dispersion of the virus, we shouldn't have too hard of a time rounding them up and killing all of them."

"405 will be tricky, though," Stephen said. "The prophecy does say that the sickness will cover the Earth and only leave us behind, but it does say that she'll deliver the helpless. I believe that the prophecy is right and we'll prevail, but she could still pose a problem."

"All that we have to do is to keep her at bay long enough for the virus to be distributed among the humans," White said. "When we do that, it'll be too late for 405 to save them. We win. End of story."

"Now that is a bedtime story that I look forward to reading to Carrie," Stephen said, smiling.

"And one that I look forward to reading to my son after he's born in two months," White agreed. He looked at his watch. "It's time for lunch. There's a great Thai place in town. Do you want to go there for food?"

"Sure. That sounds pretty good," Stephen said. "Are you sure that I can't get one good hit in on 941 before we leave?"

"I wish, but I want to make sure that he stays alive for the time being," White said. "You can have a turn on the transgenic punching bag later tonight."

"Sounds like fun," Stephen said. "Speaking of which, how are you planning on finally killing the freak?"

"I thought that I would let the public do the job for me," White said. "His barcode isn't lasered off or otherwise covered. All I have to do is to dump him somewhere while he's still in no condition to defend himself or at least defend himself in a crowd of humans, and they'll see the barcode and do the rest. I was thinking about dropping him off somewhere near Terminal City, but that would be too close for comfort for me. If they spotted us, they could mount a rescue attempt. We'll drop him somewhere else in the state."

"405 will go crazy," Stephen said. He laughed. "It's brilliant. When do you want to do this?"

"Tomorrow afternoon after lunch," White said. "So you can get your hits on 941 later tonight and maybe a few tomorrow morning, but after that, no more. I want him to be aware enough to know what's going on. It's more fun for us that way to know that he knew how much he was suffering before he died."

"You are a genius," Stephen said. They left the building.

* * *

Jeff opened his good eye and glared at them after they had left. _Those bastards. They want to make sure that I'm aware when they leave me out there to die? Bullshit. Here's a newsflash for them: aware for me and aware for a normal human are two different things. As long as I am halfway conscious, you bet your ass that I'll find a way out of the situation. I've been trained for that. Did you know that on more than one occasion, the trainers would have other transgenics beat the crap out of me and then send me out on a training mission just to make sure that I could 'persevere under adverse conditions?'_ Something in the window caught his eye and he grinned briefly. _I might not have to do that after all._

* * *

Biggs and Zane ducked into a bush and watched White and Stephen leave the building. Biggs motioned for Zane to be quiet and looked into the window and grinned when Jeff saw him and began to hum quietly. Zane looked at him as if Biggs had gone crazy, but Biggs just gestured for him to trust him and a moment later, the two of them heard Jeff humming faintly from inside the building. Biggs and Jeff continued this for a few more minutes before Biggs finally motioned for him and Zane to fall back, which they did.

"What was that humming deal?" Zane asked.

"It was a code that Jeff and Alec and I worked out when we did that mission in Alaska together," Biggs said. "Only the three of us know it."

"So what's going on?" Zane asked. "Is Jeff okay?"

"He's getting the shit beaten out of him on a regular basis, but he's otherwise okay for the moment," Biggs said. He filled Zane in on the rest of it and Zane shook his head.

"This isn't good," he said. "I'm calling Max." He took out his cell phone and speed dialed Max's number. "Max, it's Zane. We've found him. He's alive."

"Thank goodness," Max said. "Where?"

"Just outside of Walla Walla, at least three hours away from Seattle," Zane said. He gave Max the address of the building. "We're running out of time. We need to get Jeff out of here by early tomorrow afternoon at the absolute latest. White's going to beat the hell out of Jeff some more and then throw him to the wolves sometime tomorrow after lunch. He didn't mention exactly where. I guess he hasn't figured out that detail yet. Biggs managed to communicate with Jeff and Jeff said that White's got some of his freaky friends stationed in the building, plus White's best buddy is here visiting White. Biggs and I can't pull it off right now with just the two of us."

"We'll meet here right now to plan the rescue," Max promised. "We'll call you back as soon as we've gotten together so you can be in on the meeting."

"Got it," Zane said. "According to Biggs, Jeff overheard some weird stuff that has to do with the prophecy."

"I'll call you again tonight and you can tell me it then," Max said. "Zane, Biggs, thank you so much."

"It was no problem," Biggs said. "I'd do anything for the little buddy."

"Alec and Riley both say that Jeff will kill you if he knows that you still refer to him as 'little buddy,'" Max said after pausing for a few seconds.

"Hell, Zane and I are out of Jeff's hearing range," Biggs said with a grin.

"We'll get back to you later, Maxie," Zane said.

"Same here," Max said. "Continue to keep an eye on Jeff."

"We will," Zane promised.

TBC

More notes: Thank you so much to hphotshot, angelofdarkness78, poptart, and willow98002 for their reviews and support!


	45. Chapter 41

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"I think that we're all set to go," White said with a smile the following afternoon.

"Where are we going to drop him off?" Stephen asked.

"I was thinking about dropping him off in Olympia," White said. "It's far enough from Seattle that I feel comfortable but it's close enough to Seattle for the news of 941's death to reach them quickly."

"You're the boss here," Stephen said. He turned around when he heard Jeff snort from where he was still chained up. "You should keep your mouth shut here, 941. You don't have any right to talk."

"Talk about what? I actually have the right to be the boss about something," Jeff said. "I'm the commanding officer of my unit. What are you the boss of?"

Stephen spit on Jeff. "Filthy freak."

"Hey, my girlfriend said it to me last week when we were having sex," Jeff said. _They don't need to know that Becky and I haven't slept with each other yet._ He grinned when he got the reaction that he wanted from White and Stephen.

"Do all of you animals have a sense of humor like that?" White said disgustedly.

"Let's see. Max, Rena, and Jondy do for sure," Jeff said. "I'm not that bad, but you bring out the best in me."

White backhanded Jeff, who just spit at him again. "Can you freaks do anything except spit at me and make smart remarks?"

"Yeah, we can kick your ass," Jeff said. "I believe that we've done that on more than one occasion."

"Not for long," White said.

"What, you're going to jack yourselves up?" Jeff said. "To quote Jondy when we were all having dinner last week, 'steroids are so pre-pulse.'"

"We got you," White said. "We're going to kill you. After you, we're going to find 405 and we're going to kill her. There won't be a single thing that you or anybody else can do about it."

Jeff's eyes narrowed and the look on his face was enough to make White flinch at least for a moment. Jeff's voice sounded even more dangerous. "You will not go anywhere near Becky. I am going to get out of this mess somehow and when I do and if you even try to hurt her, I will kill you. I will make it nice and slow and your screams of pain are going to sound so nice. Am I making myself clear?"

"It's easy to make those kinds of threats when you're chained up and beaten up," White said, recovering his nerve. "It doesn't matter because in a few hours, you are going to be dead and there won't be anything that you can do about it when I kill 405." He looked at Stephen. "Stephen? Would you be a pal and hit 941 for me? A broken bone or two would be nice."

"Absolutely," Stephen said. He stepped forward and hit Jeff hard in the ribs.

Jeff winced when he felt and heard a few ribs crack, but he kept his voice steady. "You want to think of me as an animal? I guess that I can't do too much about changing your mind about that particular subject, but just remember that the worst thing that you can do to some animals is to threaten them and to back them into a corner."

"I'll believe it when I see it, 941," White said.

"Fine," Jeff said. "How about when your buddies tell you that I wasn't killed?"

"How about I make sure that doesn't happen?" White countered. He kicked Jeff in the right knee and grinned when he saw Jeff unable to restrain the yell of pain. "941, I'm sorry, did I just blow out your knee?"

"My name is Jeff," Jeff said.

"Your name is dead," White countered. "Come on, Stephen, let's go to my office and get some things from there and then we'll get going."

* * *

"This isn't good," Biggs said from his position. "White just blew out Jeff's right knee. Even if we get Jeff out of whatever restraints we're going to use, he definitely won't be able to move well. We've got to get things going now. They're going to move Jeff at any moment."

"Damn," Max swore. "Okay, people, let's get moving. Zane, disable the vehicles. Biggs, take care of the man posted out here."

"Not a problem," Biggs said. He and Zane moved forward and he walked up to the man who was standing near the building, obviously on guard duty. "Hey, buddy! I'm kinda lost here. Do you think that you can help me?"

"Yeah, sure," the guard said. "Where are you heading?"

"I'm trying to get back to route 12," Biggs said. "My car's over there and I saw the building here, but I was too lazy to find a driveway to pull up into." He glanced at the nine millimeter in the guard's hand and immediately recognized it as Jeff's gun. "Dude, that is sweet! Is that yours?"

"Yeah, I found it—" The guard dropped to the ground when Biggs grabbed him by the neck and cut off his circulation.

Biggs picked up Jeff's gun and tucked it in the waistband of his jeans next to his own gun. "I'll take that." He made a motion to Zane and while he dragged the man out of sight and bound and gagged him, Zane quietly moved to the van that was parked in front of the building and lifted the hood and quickly removed something and closed the hood and then did the same thing to the cars that were also parked there. He returned to his original position.

"They're grounded," Zane said as he tossed something away.

"Good," Max said. "Becky, you set up above?"

"Ready and waiting," Becky said. She adjusted Kevin's sniper rifle in her arms. "If they try to hurt any of us, they're dead."

Max paused. "If they try to kill us, go for it, but do not go for the kill on White."

"Huh? Why not?" Becky asked, confused.

"I don't know," Max said. "It's just a feeling that I'm getting. Trust me."

"I trust you," Becky said honestly.

"Don't scratch my rifle or I will find a way to hurt you," Kevin said.

There were snickers from almost everyone. "Don't worry," Becky promised, a smile on her face despite her nerves. "I'll try my best to be careful."

Max shook her head and grinned. "Okay, building team, are you set to go in?"

"Ready," Wes said.

"All set," Christian said.

"Good to go," Dustin said.

"I'm good," Krit said.

"Ready, willing, and able," Rena said.

"I'm ready," Karen said.

"So am I," Kevin said.

"I'm ready. Building team is good to go," Alec said.

"Move out and head inside," Max said. "Is everybody else ready?" She listened as the others who had gone with them reported in. "Good. Biggs, we're moving on your signal."

* * *

Jeff watched White approach him with a syringe. "Oh goody, is it nap time again?"

"What a smart little animal," White said. "We're not stupid, 941. We're not going to transfer you to the van without calming you down first."

"You could have fooled me about the stupid part," Jeff said.

Stephen wiped his forehead. "I'll be glad when we get into the air conditioned car."

"You and me both," White said. "Can you hold the syringe for a moment, Stephen?" He handed Stephen the syringe and took off his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves.

"I was right about the stupid part," Jeff said. "Stupid people wear suits in July." Something caught his eye and he glanced down at White's right arm and saw an irregular-shaped mark on it. "You know, White, you babble about our barcodes, but that's a nice piece-of-shit thing on your bicep. If the barcodes make us animals in your mind, what does that thing make you?"

White glared at Jeff. "This is what is called a birthmark, the kind that real people are born with."

"Yeah, but weren't you complaining about ordinary humans as well as us transgenics?" Jeff pointed out. "I thought that you said that you were better than an ordinary human and now you're on the same level? Get your story straight."

"I'll take the syringe back now," White said. He waited for Stephen to hand the syringe back to him before he smiled at Jeff. "By the time that you wake up from your nap, you'll be less than an hour from your death."

"For my last meal, can I have your head on a stick?" Jeff said.

"Sorry, we can't accommodate your request," White said. "Do you have the keys for the cuffs that we're going to use for 941?"

"Right in my pocket," Stephen said. He took the keys out to show White before he put them back in his pants pocket.

"Thanks," White said. He stuck the needle into Jeff's arm. "Sweet dreams, 941."

_Good luck, everyone,_ Jeff thought before he passed out.

* * *

Max watched from her spot as White and Stephen carefully undid Jeff's chains and took him down and put ordinary-looking handcuffs on him. She saw White and Stephen pick Jeff up and carry him out to the van, followed by ten other Familiars. She ducked down a little farther when she noticed White looking around the area.

"Where the hell is Brother Randall?" he said.

"He's probably taking another piss break," Stephen said. "He always finds the worst time to do that."

"True," White said. He and Stephen carried Jeff into the van and laid him out across one of the seats and got back outside. "We have to leave now. If he's not around in the next three seconds, he's staying back here."

"Now!" Biggs said.

Max, Riley, Zane, Kyle, Layla, Syl, Ralph, and Vance burst from their hiding places and attacked. White and Stephen ran for cover behind one of the cars. Two of the Familiars tried to pull guns on the transgenics, but Becky took them out before they could bring the guns up. Biggs blurred to the van and threw open the side door and reached in and grabbed Jeff. Becky saw White reach for a gun and gritted her teeth.

"Not this time you fucker," she growled and fired a shot and nailed him in the right shoulder. White dropped the gun and Max heard and she and Syl caught White and Stephen from behind and knocked them both out.

"Everybody to the vans, let's move!" she yelled. "Building team, report in."

"Three more Familiars down, no casualties suffered," Alec said as he, Rena, Dustin, Wes, Christian, Karen, Krit, and Kevin blurred out of the building and joined the others as they ran for their vehicles. "You contained them all out here. They didn't have a chance to run back in."

"Good," Max said. They piled into two vans. Biggs lay Jeff down on the floor of one of the vans and Wayne and Maggie started to check him over. Becky moved as close to Jeff as she could while giving Wayne and Maggie enough space. "How's Jeff?"

"Out cold, and he really got beaten up," Wayne said. "He'll be okay. No doubt about that."

"He'll definitely need to get into surgery for that knee," Maggie said. She carefully checked Jeff's ribcage. "He is one lucky bastard."

"White must have given Jeff something strong because he's not waking up," Becky said as she grabbed one of Jeff's hands.

"He said that Jeff would be awake about an hour before they got to Olympia, so he should wake up before we get to Seattle," Max said.

"Thank goodness," Riley said. She wiped her eyes. "I thought for awhile that I would never see my big brother again." She took Jeff's other hand. "Yes, Jeff, I'm crying. You can laugh all you want." The others laughed.

"He's going to have a great time laughing about that later," Wes said.

"Later," Becky repeated. "I'm happy he has a later." She leaned down and gently kissed Jeff on his forehead.

"Me too," Max said. "Me too."

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much to angelofdarkness78, jracklesfan77, and willow98002 for their reviews and support!


	46. Chapter 42

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"I don't remember the last time I had a day off, whether it's from Jam Pony or from any kind of duty here," Max said as she sat back in a chair in her living room the next afternoon.

"After the last few days, we've earned a day off," Biggs said. "I can't say it enough how glad I am to have Jeff back safe and sound."

"When is he being sprung loose from the med bay? Tonight or tomorrow morning?" Alec asked.

"I think tonight sometime," Max said.

"Good for him," Sasha said. "Knee injuries suck so bad. Remember when 908 nearly destroyed my right knee back in '16 when we were sparring? I was ready to kill her. I was out of active duty for two weeks and I had been scheduled to go on a solo down in Los Angeles a week after my injury happened. I had to give that one up to that prissy little bitch 714." She smirked. "On the bright side, 908 got a week in solitary for use of excessive force, 714 botched the mission and she got a two-week trip to solitary, and I ended up getting assigned a solo mission a week after being cleared for active duty down in the Caribbean. Oh my God, the off hours on that mission were so good. That month down there was so beautiful."

"714 got three days in Psy Ops for botching that mission too, remember?" Alec said.

"I do remember, Alec," Sasha said. She sounded a little annoyed. "I never said that I was happy about her getting a few days in that hellhole. As much as I hated her and Diane and 908 and a bunch of the others in our unit, I wouldn't wish Psy Ops on them."

"Calm down," Max said. She wiped her forehead. "Is it warm in here?"

"No, I'm good," Brin said.

"Me too," Sasha and Biggs and Alec said.

"That's weird," Max said.

"Yeah," Brin said. "I know that the air conditioning is working."

Max shrugged. "Whatever. I wish that I was in the Caribbean right now."

"You and me both," Sasha said. "It was easy to see why those business men I was tailing on the mission chose that as their vacation spot. It was sweet. I got to work on my tan and spy on those idiots at the same time. Everybody was so jealous of me when I got back to Manticore when the mission was over. I think the only people who weren't jealous of me were Biggs, Alec, 849, and 228 and that was because I picked up some contraband for everybody and got it past the numbnuts' at the front gate."

"How did you get contraband past the guards?" Max asked.

"It was one of those things that you would have learned if you hadn't run," Sasha said. "Trust me. There wasn't a single mission-qualified soldier at Manticore who didn't know how to sneak something back with them. I can guarantee you that you would have been doing the same thing."

"I know I would have," Max said.

"That reminds me," Alec said. "I saw 237 and 714 last night when I was heading back to my apartment after I saw Jeff in the med bay."

"You've got to be kidding me," Biggs said. "Were they together-together or not? And where were 714's kids?"

"They weren't hooked up," Alec said. "714 said that her twins were in the nursery while she was looking for a place. 237 just gave me nasty looks. I don't know what got into him now, but I think the last time that I wondered what had gotten into him was I think sometime in 2011."

"Has 714 changed at all?" Sasha asked.

Alec shook his head. "No. She's still the same old 714, except that she uses the name Melanie now."

"What, she's not going by Fifi or something like that?" Sasha remarked.

"No, that would have been too perfect," Alec said. He saw the slightly confused looks on Max and Brin's faces and shrugged. "I'll grab some water from the kitchen."

"Sure, as long as you don't break anything," Max said.

"I'm touched that you have such faith in me," Alec said.

"She won't after I tell her about the mission in Mexico," Sasha said sweetly.

"She doesn't need to hear about how I barely managed to cover for you and Biggs when I accidentally caught the two of you," Alec said.

"Not that, you moron," Sasha said. "That time while we were on the mission and you practically destroyed that poor lady's pottery."

"It was part of my cover! The target was also there and I had to distract him so that Biggs could plant the tracer on him," Alec said.

"That's what you're telling your girlfriend and Max to save face, but Biggs and I both know that you were planning on—"

"Here's your water," Biggs said. He handed Alec a cup of water that he'd gotten from Max's kitchen. "Holy crap, you guys still argue like that."

"Duh," Sasha said.

"Thanks, buddy," Alec said. He drank the water and sniffed. "Do you guys smell anything?"

"Nope," Max said.

"That's weird, because it's coming from you," Alec said.

"Get real," Sasha said. "I don't smell anything out of the ordinary."

"Neither do I," Brin agreed.

"Biggs, back me up here. Do you smell anything?" Alec asked.

"I do," Biggs said. "It's kind of familiar, but whatever." He shrugged.

"You two are weird," Max said. "I can't wait until Zack gets back—" She bit her lip. "Did it just get a lot hotter in here?"

Practically in unison, Brin's and Sasha's jaws dropped. "Holy crap, Max is in heat!" Brin said. "I should have known! The same damn thing happened to me." She turned to Sasha. "I guess you and Biggs really are meant for each other."

"Okay, how does my allegedly being in heat have anything to do with Sasha and Biggs being meant for each other?" Max said, annoyed.

"Because when a couple is mated or has at least subconsciously gotten to the point where they are mated but haven't had sex when the woman is in heat, the man will resist or at least try to resist a different woman if said different woman is in heat," Brin said. "And if that woman happens to be at that same point in her relationship, she will not know that she is in heat until her guy comes along or she thinks about him, whatever."

"Wow," Max said. "That is—" She was cut off by the door suddenly opening and slamming back shut and the temperature in the room for her suddenly skyrocketed. Her eyes immediately went to where Zack was suddenly standing in front of the door, his own eyes similarly glued onto Max.

"You guys? Get out right now," he growled.

"You don't have to tell us twice," Alec said. He and Biggs and Brin and Sasha quickly left the room.

"Zack," Max whispered. She found herself moving towards him and then kissing him passionately as the world seemed to fade around them.

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much to angelofdarkness78, jracklesfan77, and hphotshot for their reviews and support! aod78, the possible consequences of Max's heat won't be addressed in this fic. Yep, there will be a sequel! I was going to do just an epilogue to this one, but I realized that the epilogue would take several chapters, so I'll just write another fic. :)


	47. Chapter 43

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Notes: Spoiler-ish stuff for "Bag 'Em."

"Two more hours," Becky said as she poked the food on her plate in the cafeteria that evening.

"What, two more hours until—that freaking hurt!" Kevin said, rubbing his head where Becky had hit him.

"You deserved it," Ralph said.

"I did not," Kevin insisted.

"You kind of did," Ralph said. "Didn't he, Kyle?"

"You did," Kyle said.

"Sorry," Kevin said.

"What has some of our favorite X6s in such a mood this evening?" Wayne joked as he, Jondy, Rena, Zane, Krit, and Syl sat down at the table with them.

"We're just winding down after the last couple of days, I guess," Riley said.

"That reminds me," Jondy said. "Where are Max and Zack? Max said earlier that she was thinking about joining us here for dinner tonight."

Wayne grinned wickedly. "I ran into Alec about an hour ago. When Zack came back to his and Max's apartment after his class teaching martial arts to some of the older X9s, the first thing he did was to tell Alec and Biggs and Brin and Sasha to leave. Alec said that as he and the others were leaving the building, they heard the sound of clothes being torn off and…"

"Stop it," Becky said. She was looking slightly green. "I actually want to eat my dinner and not throw up all over it."

"Me too," Krit said. He had a similar look on his face. "Do any of you guys have spare apartment space for me and Syl to crash in for awhile?"

"Hey! Since when were we forced out of our apartment?" Syl said.

"Since the fact that we live only two floors up from Max and Zack and we'll probably be able to hear them and for me, that is wrong on so many levels even I can't begin to count them all," Krit said.

"I don't understand what the big deal is," Syl said. "We can tune out the noise. Can't we?"

"Yeah," Kyle said. "We did that at Manticore when the breeding program was running."

"I guess that meeting for tomorrow is going to have to be rescheduled," Zane said.

"Which one?" Becky asked. "Oh, the one about Rob?"

"I'm in favor of beating the living shit out of him a few times," Riley said. "Let's give him a taste of what White did to Jeff and let him see how it feels."

"Good call," Becky said. Ralph nodded in agreement.

Rena shrugged. "I personally think Rob deserves any and all kinds of hell myself, but unfortunately, we have to work this out. Democracy and practicality are annoying sometimes."

"That and cleaning up all of the blood because there would be plenty shed after everybody is done beating the living shit out of Rob," Kyle said. Ralph looked a little green and put a hand over her mouth. "Are you okay, Ralph?" Ralph nodded but kept her hand over her mouth and didn't say anything.

"Whenever she sees or hears people talking about a lot of blood, she gets really squeamish," Riley said. "She can deal with everyday sparring injuries and things like that, but if it's seriously major, then so is her reaction."

"It's how I got my name," Ralph admitted. "The night of the fire, I somehow got separated from the rest of my family once we all got over the fence and I somehow ended up in a group with Alec and one of the X5s from Wyoming, 601. 601 had gotten shot by one of the X7s. It wasn't a bad hit, but it bled pretty bad at first and I threw up and Alec wondered if I was going to ralph every time 601 would have to change the bandages on her wound and a few days later after the three of us split up and I was thinking about giving myself a name, that memory popped into my head and I decided that I liked the name Ralph." She looked thoughtful. "How did you guys get your names?"

"I got my name from this one government official's assistant who visited Manticore with her boss the day before we named ourselves back in November of 2003," Rena said. "Her name was Irene and I overheard one of the other visitors call her Rena as they were walking by us and inspecting us. I knew that Rena was a nickname, at least in her case, but I thought it was a cool name."

"I heard two guards talking about John Wayne one day when I was in martial arts class and I was waiting in line for my turn to spar and I was bored," Wayne said. "He sounded like such a cool guy that I wanted to name myself after him and I thought John was a boring name, so I went with Wayne."

"Bullshit. You went with Wayne because you wanted to piss me off," Zane said. "The only reason that Krit didn't also give himself a name that rhymed with 'Zane' was because he couldn't think of one at the time. I'm kind of surprised that he didn't rename himself later with a rhyming name."

"I would have, but I liked the name 'Krit' and any other name that I could think of that rhymed with 'Zane' I didn't like," Krit said.

"You let that stop—" Zane was cut off when Rena turned his head towards her and kissed him. When they parted, they looked at the surprised faces at the table, particularly at the especially surprised faces of Jondy, Krit, Syl, and Wayne. "Oh crap, we didn't tell you guys yet."

"You hooked up?" Jondy said.

"Yeah, the day that White got Jeff," Rena said. "We didn't have the chance to tell you guys because first and foremost we wanted to help get Jeff back safe and sound." She smirked. "This is kind of a recurring theme for us. We admit our feelings for each other and we find out that Jeff was taken. Just over twelve years ago, we have our first kiss and we found out that the Pulse had happened."

"What's next? You have a kid and find out that there was a massive earthquake down the coast and half of California has disappeared into the ground?" Jondy joked.

"Hey, I was going to say something like that," Kevin said. "Not bad."

"Stick with me and you'll go places," Jondy said.

"Yeah, the med bay when she talks you into pulling some insane stunt with her," Syl said.

"I won't talk him into pulling what you would consider an insane stunt," Jondy said. She grinned over at Wayne. "That honor I'm giving to Wayne."

"Jondy, everybody considers the shit that you end up pulling off insane," Syl said.

"Zack told me about that time when he was relocating you back in '15 and you guys were in a jam and you made him pull off with you that deal when—" Becky started to say.

Jondy rolled her eyes. "For Pete's sake, that wasn't that big of a deal. Lydecker's morons didn't even have a clue that we'd slipped out from under their noses."

"Jondy, out of the four thousand-plus of us Manticore soldiers, I bet that not even fifty of us would have had the nerve to even try to pull that off," Becky said.

"Damn, I'm good," Jondy said. She grinned and laughed when Becky shook her head.

"I can't wait until I have somebody sane to talk to," she said.

TBC

More notes: Thank you so much to poptart, angelofdarkness78, and jracklesfan77 for their reviews and support! I didn't write a whole scene with Rena and Zane hooking up because I'd already written a few similar scenes in this fic with other characters and I thought it would be overkill. I also made a minor change to a chapter in this fic and a chapter in Together. Mixer (I don't know if you're reading this fic as well, but just in case), I didn't mean to mention Becky's physical abilities quite as much as I did in "Together." Originally, the whole point of Becky's ability level was going to be this one part that I ended up not writing. Thank you all again!


	48. Chapter 44

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Max blinked and yawned and smiled. _My head's clear, so I guess my heat's over._ She shifted a little and stifled a groan. _What a heat it must have been! I'm hurting all over. I wish I could really remember it._

"Hey, there," Zack said sleepily.

"Good…morning," Max said as she noticed the sunlight coming in through the bedroom window. "What time is it?"

Zack lifted his head up from his pillow and looked at the alarm clock. "It's six-twenty-three in the morning. I'm really wondering what day is it."

"I don't know and I'm too lazy right now to find my cell phone and take a look," Max said. She looked at Zack's neck and lightly touched the mark that she had left there sometime during her heat. "I guess it's official now."

"Yeah," Zack said. He gently touched the mark that he had left on Max. "You and me, together forever."

"Isn't this the part where I'm supposed to wear a white gown and a veil?" Max said, smirking. They both laughed.

"I wish that I could remember exactly what happened over the last however many-odd hours," Zack said.

"Me too," Max said. "Everything kind of faded after I kissed you when you got back to the apartment and the others left. I sort of remember bits and pieces, but it's all blurry." She blushed. "I guess it doesn't matter." She sighed contentedly. "This is what really matters to me."

"I could just stay here with you forever," Zack said, kissing Max on her forehead and pulling her even closer to him.

"Me too," Max said. "The Familiars, the prophecy, and saving the world can go to hell right now. The only thing I want right now is to stay here with you and enjoy being together. That's it." She closed her eyes and rested her head on Zack's chest, but the quiet was interrupted by her cell phone ringing. Max groaned and disentangled herself from Zack's arms and reached over and picked up her cell phone from the nightstand. "I don't care who this is, I was enjoying the peace and quiet and just being with Zack and I will cause grievous bodily harm to whoever the fuck is calling."

"I guess your heat's over," Krit remarked.

"Yeah, it's over," Max said. "How long were Zack and I locked away from the rest of the world?"

"It's been almost thirty-seven hours since Alec said that Zack kicked him and Biggs and Brin and Sasha out of your apartment," Krit said.

"Wow, that's half the time my heat usually lasts," Max said.

"Listen, I called to let you know that we've rescheduled that meeting about Rob," Krit said. "It's going to be at ten this morning in the control room."

"Why is it going to be in the control room?" Max asked. "Who's going to be there?"

"You, me, Zack, the rest of our family, Alec, Biggs, Sasha, Jeff, his family that's here, Becky and her family, Dix, Luke, Mole, Mia, the members of Rob's unit that are here, every other commanding officer that's here, plus a few other random transgenics," Krit informed her. "It's going to be a lot of people and the conference room can't hold all of them."

"True," Max said. "Has Rob been behaving himself?"

"Yeah, Mia's suggestion that he play nice is still working," Krit said. "He's still generally an asshole to whoever's guarding him in his temporary cell, but he hasn't made any moves to try to get loose or anything like that."

"Good," Max said. "We'll get dressed and then we're going to head to the cafeteria to get some breakfast and then we'll find out what else is on our agenda for today. I'll see you at the meeting later."

"I'll see you then," Krit said.

Max disconnected and turned to Zack. "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah," Zack said. He sat up and got out of bed and started to get ready for the day while Max did the same. When they were done, they left the apartment and started to walk to the cafeteria.

"I guess you really did go into heat," Jondy's voice said from behind them while they were in the stairwell. "You are definitely not walking right, Maxie."

"Very funny," Max said, rolling her eyes. "How I'm walking is none of your business."

"Yeah, how she's walking could be the result of something else, though I don't believe that," Rena said as she walked up to the three of them. "There's also the fact that she's got her 'I-Just-Had-Mind-Blowing-Sex' grin on her face again, except that's even bigger. There's also the fact that Zack actually looks like he's in a good mood for once in his life."

"Which is either a sign of the apocalypse or he's gotten majorly laid," Jondy agreed.

"You two are going to drive me crazy one of these days," Zack muttered.

"You mean that we haven't driven you crazy already?" Rena said, pretending to be shocked.

"Play nice," Max said.

"If you insist," Jondy said.

"It won't last," Zack pointed out.

"Damn right it won't," Rena said proudly.

Zack thought for a moment. "Five seconds. You almost beat your personal best of seven seconds."

"Darn," Rena said sarcastically.

"Come on," Max said. "Let's just go down to the cafeteria and get something that's hopefully good to eat. We're probably going to have a long day ahead of us." She took Zack's hand and gave him a big kiss.

Zack returned the kiss and grinned down at Max. "Let's go."

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much again to angelofdarkness78, poptart, and hphotshot for their reviews and support! poptart, your question will be answered one way or another in the sequel that I'm planning on writing when this fic is finished. hphotshot, Lydecker is somewhere out there. In chapter 33b after Caroline (who along with Dennis will be reappearing in two or so chapters) confronted Lydecker, Kyle and Jeff took him out of the safehouse and to another location. Lydecker will probably appear in the planned sequel as well. Thank you all so much again!


	49. Chapter 45

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"Okay, people, let's quiet down here," Max yelled to the other transgenics who were assembled in the control room later that morning. "Let's take a look at the facts again before we discuss any possible punishment for Rob. As was confirmed by audio transmission and Rob's own confession courtesy of Mia, Rob and Jeff were out on a job when they came across a group of Familiars. They started to leave, but they were attacked by the Familiars and instead of helping fight them off, Rob deliberately abandoned Jeff so that he could make a clean getaway. As a direct result of Rob's actions, Jeff was captured by Ames White and beaten for the next few days until a successful rescue mission was completed. Rob's motive for leaving Jeff behind was an apparent out-of-control alpha male complex. The only question right now is what we should do with Rob. Okay, does anybody have ideas that they want to share with everybody?" She pointed to one of the hands that went up. "Trent."

"Let's just keep doing what we've been doing for the past several days," he said with a shrug. "Let's just leave him chained up in the basement here for awhile. I'm sure that he's learned his lesson by now."

Becky stared at him. "What planet are you on, Trent? Rob committed the ultimate no-no for a soldier: he deliberately left one of his own behind in enemy territory. I know that he and Jeff weren't in the same unit, but that doesn't matter. They were on the same side and Rob knew exactly what he was doing when he left Jeff behind. Jeff could have easily been killed by White and the only reason why he didn't was the fact that White wanted to play around with him. Do you understand?"

"Becky, calm down," Zack said.

"Sorry," Becky said.

"Becky is right," Max said. "Rob crossed the line. Trent, you were in Rob's unit back at Manticore so you should know him as well as anybody here does. Do you honestly think that Rob really has learned his lesson or is this just a whole lot of wishful thinking on your part?"

"It's wishful thinking," Trent admitted. "Honestly, I doubt that Rob's learned his lesson. Rob was a great soldier and a good commanding officer, but he wouldn't accept help or suggestions from anybody other than his superiors. If one of us would try to speak up and offer a suggestion when he'd be briefing us before going in on a mission, Rob would shut him or her up before the other person could get the first or second word out. He wouldn't even take a suggestion from Jeff on the rare occasions that they worked together back at Manticore. Rob always believed that he was in the right about everything. I don't think that anything could change that."

"So let's beat some sense into him," Riley said. "How many times do I have to suggest it?"

"That won't do any good," Jeff said. "You know Rob. He'll just laugh it off." He shook his head. "The problem with Rob is that he has no fear whatsoever. I don't mean no fear as in he'll go and do something crazy for no reason at all, I mean he's not afraid of anybody or anything because of his abilities. If he gets thrown in a prison, he'll escape. If he gets beaten up, he'll heal. If someone tries to threaten him, he'll laugh in their face and scare them so badly they won't be able to sleep for days. Pretty much nothing will work on Rob. As far as I know, there's nothing that scares Rob or at least scare enough sense into him that will make him realize that what he did crossed the line in a big way."

"There's one thing that scares Rob," Trent said. "Psy Ops."

"Are you joking?" one of the other transgenics asked. "You want us to recreate that hell hole?"

"I don't know," Trent said. "All that I know is that it's the only thing that Rob is definitely scared off and it's the only form of punishment that will get through to him."

Max shook her head. "This is insane. That place was the worst thing imaginable. I try to forget my stays in there every day and I still struggle with it sometimes. The torture that they put us through in Psy Ops alone was unspeakable. Even if we do recreate it to some extent to punish Rob, we don't have the time."

"Maybe not for the long stay in there that Manticore would have given Rob if they were in the best mood of their lives," Alec said. "Unfortunately, I don't think that we have a choice here. If there was one impression that Manticore left on us, it was a lack of fear of conventional forms of punishment. How can you be afraid of being locked up in a jail cell for an indeterminate period of time when the Manticore alternative is to have one or more of the Psy Ops soldiers go through your brain until there's nothing left except Jell-O or any of the lovely tricks that the ordinary soldiers or lab techs would play on us while we were to out of it on psychoactives to do anything about it? We have to re-create Psy Ops to some extent for Rob, Max. Like I said, I don't think that we have a choice."

Max was quiet for a few moments while she thought about what Alec had said. "You're right." She sighed. "I hate the idea, but it's our only viable option. Okay, people. Let's vote on this idea. Simple majority wins. How many of you agree with Alec's proposition?" She waited while most of the transgenics raised their hands and quietly counted them. "Including myself, that's all but three of us. It's settled then. The only question now is how we're going to do this."

"I guess we can just send some people into Rob's cell," Riley said. "We don't have the setup that they had back at Manticore for something like this. And you're right about us not having the luxury of time to put Rob through what he would have gone through back at Manticore. I guess the question is how long do we give Rob with this?"

"I don't know," Max said. "I guess that's something to figure out. Okay, Zack, Alec, and I, since the three of us spent a whole lot of time in Psy Ops within six months of Manticore burning to a crisp, and Mia will finalize the details on this. Mia, can you also pick another Psy Ops soldier or two to join us?"

"Sure," Mia agreed. "No problem."

"Great," Max said. "Okay, everybody, I guess the meeting's over. We'll let you know if we need any of you later." She watched most of the transgenics leave the room and turned to Zack. "I don't know how I feel about this. This is so wrong, but we don't have a choice."

"It's not easy to decide what's right and what's not right," Zack said.

"It's like the decision you made when you ran," Alec said. "Well, its how I came to feel about it. You were right to get out of Manticore when you were kids. They should have done any of those things to us. On the other hand, they put the rest of us through that much more hell, which you couldn't have known about. It's not a win-win situation for everybody."

Max nodded. "I know." She sighed and straightened up a little. "Let's figure this bitch out."

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much to angelofdarkness78, hphotshot, and jracklesfan77 for their reviews and support! aod78, I'm not sure if Rob will physically get his ass kicked for his role in what happened to Jeff, but he's going to get a pretty good mental ass kicking. I probably won't go into detail about it, but he's in for a good mental butt whipping. Thank you all so much again! Dennis and Caroline should be appearing again in the next part and then things will be moving quickly to the end of the fic.


	50. Chapter 46

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"I'll be so damn happy when all of this is done and over with," Caroline said to Dennis as they sat together at a table in a bar that night. "I'll be happy when at the very least White and the rest of the Familiars are out for the count."

Dennis nodded. "The world will be saved, but where will that leave the transgenics? We could be out here in Seattle in front of Terminal City for more months or even years. As much as I like being close to our kids, I'd much rather know that they're definitely safe and we can have as close to a normal relationship with them as we can get." He took a sip of his beer. "We should take things one step at a time. At least when this threat is done with, Jenny should be able to return home."

"Yeah," Caroline said. She grinned, but it faded quickly and she sighed.

"Don't worry, they're tough as nails and then some, remember?" Dennis said, knowing what Caroline was thinking. "They'll be fine."

"You're right," Caroline said. "I talked with Becky this evening at the safehouse when I went to visit Jenny after work and Becky happened to be one of the people on guard at the time. Becky's still pretty stressed after what happened with her boyfriend, but she is so damn resilient and I am so proud of her for it." She smirked. "She told me that Zack and Max had been shut away from everybody for about a day-and-a-half until early this morning. Things will be over in someway soon, but guess who also now has a 98 percent chance of becoming grandparents in nine months?"

"I could go from finding out that I have children in the first place to being a grandparent in less than a year. That's weird," Dennis said. "Do you know when we'll know for sure about that?"

Caroline shook her head. "Becky didn't have a clue and that Max possibly being pregnant is the farthest thing from anybody's mind right now. Between White and dealing with the kid who ended up getting Jeff in trouble, they've got too much on their plate to contemplate it." She drank a little more of her own beer. "That reminds me. Guess who I talked with on the phone at my house when I was getting ready to come meet you here?"

"Beats me," Dennis said. "Who?"

"My brother Pete," Caroline said. "He's going to be back in Columbus with Jessica and their kids in a month or so."

"I haven't seen him in ages," Dennis said. "How's he doing?"

"He's doing really well," Caroline said.

"Pete was one funny bastard," Dennis said. "He was always pulling a prank on one of the other guys on the football team but you always had to laugh and you couldn't be mad at him even if you were the one that was on the receiving end."

Caroline laughed. "All three of my brothers were like that and Danny and Pete still are. They could charm the hell out of anybody and everybody. They were all my mom's little angels, even after they'd grown up and moved out of the house." They looked over as a man and woman over at another table started screaming at each other.

"That brings back some memories," Dennis said. "She even sounds a little like Simone."

"I still can't believe that you and Simone got divorced," Caroline said. "The last time we talked before we met up again two months ago here in Seattle, every other thing you talked about was about how wonderful she was. You sounded like you were seriously in love with her."

Dennis looked thoughtful. "I think I was. When I look back, I know that it wasn't the real deal. I did love Simone and she was the first woman that I ever seriously loved and maybe I thought that was the real thing. I don't think Simone was ever in love with me. I think that Simone was in love with the thought of being married to an officer who would be going places and she wasn't prepared for how the life of a soldier's wife really was. We had some nasty fights before I filed for divorce. I haven't seen or heard from her since she flew off to Europe to be with her boyfriend. With Brooke, I just don't think that we were compatible."

"Do you think that you'll ever find the real deal?" Caroline asked.

"I think so," Dennis said. "Do you?"

"Yeah," Caroline said. "One day I hope I will." She smiled. "I'll wait. If it doesn't happen for a long time, then I'll be patient because true love is definitely something that is worth waiting for."

"Absolutely," Dennis agreed.

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much for your reviews and support, angelofdarkness78 and hphotshot! hphotshot, Lydecker would know, but he won't be appearing again in this fic. Max and Zack and Alec are working with Psy Ops soldiers like Mia, though. I won't be going into detail about Rob's punishment, as I said before, though I will almost certainly mention it again a little later. aod78, I'm glad you like the other fic as well! I'll try to have that one updated again soon! Thank you both so much again!


	51. Chapter 47

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

White and Stephen sat in front of the TV in White's living room that same night. Stephen grabbed a handful of peanuts and chewed on them for a moment before swallowing and turning to White. "How's the shoulder, buddy?"

"Pretty good," White said. "Fortunately for me, the transgenic that shot me only grazed it."

"You're lucky," Stephen said.

"Yea, I guess I am," White agreed. "Those filthy little bastards do have plenty of reasons to want to kill me."

"Well, we've got even better reasons to get rid of those animals," Stephen said cheerfully.

"Here, here," White said. "Do you want something to drink?"

"As long as it isn't beer," Stephen said. "I've got to drive back to my house later."

"That won't be a problem," White said. "Wendy has been making sure that we've been stocked up on healthy food for the past several months." He got up and went into his kitchen and opened the refrigerator. "We've got juice and bottled water and milk. What do you want?"

"Bottled water is fine," Stephen said. He caught the bottle that White threw to him and took a sip. "That's perfect. Thanks."

"You're welcome," White said as he sat back down next to Stephen on the couch.

"I was down at the labs today to check on the progress of the virus," Stephen said.

"How was it looking?" White asked.

"Buddy, you would have absolutely loved it," Stephen said, grinning. "I got to have the pleasure and the honor of seeing a test conducted on a human. He developed symptoms within two hours of infection. Unfortunately, I couldn't stick around long enough to see him actually die, but he was up to the high fever and massive vomiting stage by the time that I left. The best part about this virus, as I have been told by our Brothers and Sisters that are working to perfect it, is how it lingers in this stage for seventy-two hours just so it can prolong the agony for the host. Isn't that hysterical?"

White laughed. "I love it. Those weak little bastards are going to enjoy every minute of their deaths. Oh wait, we'll be the ones who are going to enjoy every moment of their deaths while they'll be praying for it to be over soon. It's wonderful when everybody gets what they want."

"It sure is," Stephen said. "It's too bad that those transgenics are immune to the virus. That would have been fun."

"It would have been fun, but this way we actually get to be up close and personal with them when we kill them and watch them die," White pointed out. "That will be even more fun."

Stephen nodded. "I can't argue with that logic."

"Of course," White said. They heard noise outside and they both looked annoyed. "Is it just me, or will it get a lot quieter and easier to think when those humans get wiped off of the planet?"

"No question," Stephen said. He checked his watch. "Damn, I should be getting back to my house now. The babysitter can't stay there past midnight. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"I'll see you then," White agreed. He watched Stephen leave the house and sat back with a sigh.

_There's definitely something to be said for having friends around to keep your sanity,_ he thought. _I probably would have lost it already if Stephen wasn't around to share my misery about these freaks with me. I hope that our children will be good friends as well when they are growing up._

He looked at the TV and flipped through the channels and made a disgusted face when he came to a movie. A young woman was telling her boyfriend that she was pregnant and White felt nauseated. _I wouldn't bat an eyelash normally, but that actress looks just enough like those bastard twins 120 and 121 that it makes me sick. The thought of those filthy freaks mating and spawning makes me want to gauge my eyes out with a rusty spoon. I can't believe I was actually once in the same room with 121's nasty little offspring._ White changed the channel again and nodded to himself. _The good part is that it won't matter soon. One more month and then the weak humans will be gone and then it's just a matter of time before we overwhelm the transgenics and wipe them out._

He smiled and went upstairs and looked inside his bedroom but he did not go inside it. _You stay inside of your mother where it's safe, okay? By the time that you're supposed to come out, your father and everybody will have made this the safest place in the world for you. You won't have to play with humans, like I did, or date them, like I did. Wendy's great, but she's still human. _He smiled. _Thank goodness for that plan for the pregnant wives. Wendy's doctor will tell her that it'll be safe for her and the baby to go on a vacation next month and I will whisk her away to the retreat and she will stay there where it's safe until after our son is born and if the Conclave wills it, she'll stay with me and give me even more children. I can't wait unit my son gets here!_

He walked back downstairs and into the kitchen and got himself a beer from the refrigerator and sat back down in front of the TV and grinned. _Can life get any better than this?_

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much again, hphotshot and angelofdarkness78! aod78, if something happens between Caroline and Dennis, it will likely happen in the sequel. Thanks again! I should also have more of "A Taste of Everyday" up soon on my website.


	52. Chapter 48a

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"I hate my cousin Cooper," Jenny said to Max the next afternoon at the safehouse. "He's a year younger than I am but he's always making fun of me and bothering me whenever I see him. I tell Mom every time, but she says that it's just a stage that he's going through and I should just ignore him and he'll stop eventually."

"Boys do go through those stages," Max agreed. _I think almost all of my brothers went through that stage, well they went through that stage at night when we weren't around trainers or guards or Lydecker! I think the only one who never went through a bratty stage was Zack. Even Jack went through a period when he was a little bit of a pain-in-the-ass._ "My brother Krit was a big brat when he was about seven or eight years old. When we weren't training, he'd be bothering me and the rest of our family like there was no tomorrow."

Jenny shook her head. "I don't get boys sometimes."

"I don't think that you're supposed to understand boys at your age, Jenny," Max said. "It took me forever to begin to understand them. I still don't completely understand them and I'm a lot older than you are."

"Oh," Jenny said. She shrugged and looked at Max's right arm. "When did you get those weird tattoo things?"

"What tattoo things?" Max asked. She looked at her arm and mentally groaned. _Here we go again! I hate these stupid runes. The others have faded, but what the hell, let's get some more because I just can't go without these things!_ "It's a long story. I don't think that I'll keep these for very long."

"Oh, okay," Jenny said.

Max smiled and turned when she heard footsteps come up the stairs and then the door opened and Syl stuck her head in. "What is it, sis?"

"Our replacements are here," Syl said. "It's time to get back to Terminal City."

"Okay," Max said. "I've got to go, Jenny. I'll see you later."

"Okay," Jenny said. "You're really cool, Max." She grinned. "Will you teach me how to ride your motorcycle?"

"You'd have to ask your mother about that, but I've got a feeling that she'd say no," Max said.

"I know that," Jenny said. "I asked her a few months ago if she could teach me how to ride her bike and she told me that I had to wait until I was older."

Max laughed. "I'll see you later." She and Syl left the safehouse and walked through the connecting tunnel and into Terminal City. She rubbed her arms. "I need to go to the control room A.S.A.P. Do you want to come with?"

"Sure," Syl said. She followed Max as Max walked quickly towards the main building. "Slow down, Maxie. What's the rush?"

"This is," Max said. She held out her right arm in front of Syl. "Jenny noticed these new runes on my arm just before we left the safehouse."

"Yikes," Syl said. "Well, the prophecy did mention something about things happening after you and Zack 'uniting.' Maybe this is it."

"I hope so," Max said. They arrived at the building and went straight into the control room. "Dix, I need this translated A.S.A.P."

Dix blinked in surprise but nodded. "Yeah, no problem." He took his digital camera off of the computer desk and took pictures of the new runes. "When did these pop up on you?"

"Not long at all," Max said. "Colonel Robinson's daughter noticed them right before those X4s came by to replace us on guard duty at the safehouse." She sighed irritably. "Why don't they just come up and tattoo a whole fucking novel on my body? It'd probably be a best seller, too."

Jeff got up from the chair that he'd been sitting in and slowly made his way over to Max and looked at the runes. "What chapter would this make these things?"

"You've been hanging around us too long," Max teased. "You've been much more sarcastic lately."

"Ooops," Jeff said. He grinned. "So sue me."

"I'll wait until you're off those crutches," Max teased. "I tend to take pity on the sick and injured."

"Gee, thanks," Jeff remarked. He and Max both laughed.

"What's so funny?" Zack asked as he entered the control room.

"Hey, baby," Max said. She gave him a kiss. "We're just joking around while Dix translates the new runes."

"New runes?" Zack repeated.

Max nodded. "Yeah, they're right here." She held out her arm to show the runes to Zack. "They only showed up a little while ago while I was still at the safehouse. I wanted to get them translated as soon as possible."

"I don't blame you," Zack said. He abruptly turned around and glared at Syl. "I did hear that. If you weren't a woman, I'd be very tempted to punch you right now."

"I know," Syl said. She smirked triumphantly. "Why do you think I said that under my breath in the first place? I wasn't engineered with an ordinary's I.Q."

"I got them translated," Dix said.

"Spill it," Max said.

"Will do," Dix said. He began to read the translation off of his monitor. "'The time has now come for The One, with The Guardian by her side, to confront The Dark One. The Dark One will be identified by a mark. This mark will be located midway between the elbow and the shoulder on The Dark One's right arm and will be somewhat irregular in shape, almost like a puddle of water. Do not fear, for soon the world will be safe and the ones whom The Dark One belongs to will no longer be able to harm everybody.'"

"Well, that's great," Max said sarcastically. "Who wants to go with me to ask random Familiars to roll up their right shirt sleeves so that we could see if they have some birthmark like the one my runes described?"

"Yeah, I'll go. It'll be fun to see…" Jeff's voice suddenly trailed off as a memory came back to him. His eyes widened. "Holy shit! The whole fucking time, it was right there in front of us! The whole fucking time!"

"What are you talking about?" Zack asked.

"I know who The Dark One is," Jeff said.

"You do?" Max asked. "You mean you actually saw a Familiar with the birthmark that my runes were talking about? When was this?"

Jeff looked at Max grimly. "A few days ago right before he gave me something to knock me out so that I'd be nice and quiet when he and his friend would take me to what they had hoped would be my death."

Max's jaw dropped. "You've got to be shitting me!"

"What?" Zack said. "Max, what is Jeff saying?"

"It's White."

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much again for the review and for your support, angelofdarkness78! There will be some more Max/Zack coming up and I will deal with the issue of whether or not Max is pregnant fairly early on in the sequel to this fic. I will probably not update very often if at all within the next week or so because I have a project due and then my final exam for my class. Thank you so much again!


	53. Chapter 48b

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"Huh?" Zack said in disbelief. "It's White? The person that you're supposed to kill to save the world is Ames White?"

"Yeah, how about that?" Max said sarcastically. She sighed. "Unbelievable."

"I'd say so," Syl agreed.

"What are you going to do now?" Jeff asked.

Max thought about it before finally nodding. "I know what I'm going to do." She took out her cell phone and speed dialed a number. "Becky, it's Max. I need you to get to the control room right away. It's important."

"Sure," Becky said. "I'll be there in a minute."

"Why do you need Becky's help?" Syl asked.

"You'll see," Max said as she put her cell phone back in her pocket. She and the others waited for a minute or two before Becky ran inside the control room. "We know who it is."

"We know who is what?" Becky repeated.

"White's The Dark One," Max said.

Becky's eyes widened in surprise. "What the fuck? Are you kidding me?"

"No," Max said. "That's the truth. Some new runes popped up on my arm while I was watching Jenny and I came right over here after my shift was done so that Dix could translate them. They pretty much said that it's time for me to kick The Dark One's ass and that this guy would have a certain birthmark on his arm to let me know who he is. Jeff happened to see this birthmark on White while White was holding him."

"I don't believe it," Becky said. "At least he'll be getting what he deserved. I wish that I could be the one to give it to him after everything."

"I don't blame you," Max said. "But White will think that you'll be the one who will kill him."

"What do you mean?" Zack asked.

"We use Becky as bait," Max said. "We pick a spot and a time for this confrontation to take place. We control the setting. I'm not going to take any chances and have White control any aspect of this. If he does, this can go to hell faster than any of us can blink. After we choose the time and place, Becky calls White and gets him to agree to meet her there. After that…"

"That works for me," Becky said, grinning.

They sat around and talked for a few minutes before Dix reached under the computer desk that he was sitting at and pulled a cell phone out of a drawer and tossed it to Becky. "It's showtime."

"I should have been an actress," Becky deadpanned. She flipped the cell phone open and dialed a number and waited.

* * *

White put his pen down and frowned when his cell phone rang. He picked it up and checked the number. He didn't recognize it, but he opened the phone anyway and answered the call. "Hello?"

"Hello, Agent White. How are you doing today?"

"Hello, 405," White said icily. "How is your boyfriend doing? Is 941 healing all right? I'm so sorry about his injuries, but he was being a rude guest and I had to punish him."

Becky snorted on her end of the line. "He's doing just fine, not that it's any of your business."

"I'm sorry, I was just concerned," White said with a smirk.

"Let's cut the crap here," Becky said. Her voice became deadly serious. "I'm sick of all of this shit. I'm sick of you trying to kill me and trying to kill my friends and my family. I want this crap to stop."

"So do I, 405," White said. "Are you freaks offering to die for me?"

"We're not that generous," Becky said. "I think that we need to talk this over."

White couldn't help laughing out loud. "Talk this over? 405, I don't think that even you would believe that I'm stupid enough to believe that you just want to talk and maybe negotiate."

"I'm mostly human. I've got to hope," Becky said.

"That's all you've got and that won't even last," White said.

Becky's voice grew even colder. "This will end one way or the other, White. We both know that. You're right. Wasting time is dumb right now. Meet me tomorrow in sector 4. 990 40th Street. I'll be waiting for you inside the building and I'll have to trust that you'll also be alone."

"You'll actually trust me to be alone?" White said skeptically.

"I'll trust you to be alone because I'm not going to give you a choice in the matter," Becky said smugly. "I'll have plenty of my people posted around the building. I'll know if you bring a whole big bunch of your friends with you. It's one of those things that they trained us to do back in Manticore before it burned down. If you bring in a large force with you, you'll be dead before you can get inside. That sounds pretty simple and easy to understand."

"You have a deal, 405," White said. "When exactly do you want this meeting to take place?"

"Eleven tomorrow night," Becky said. "I'll see you then." She abruptly disconnected.

White disconnected his phone and smiled. _This is perfect. 405 just handed me the opportunity of a lifetime._ His grin grew. _She only said a large force. She didn't say anything about only one person!_ He speed dialed Stephen's number and waited for him to pick it up. "Fenos'tol, Stephen."

"Fenos'tol, Ames," Stephen said. "What is it?"

"I need to tell you this first before I get in touch with the Conclave about it," White said. "I just got a call from 405 and she…"

* * *

"…you then," Becky said. She quickly disconnected the phone and tossed it back to Dix. "He and Stephen will be there." She smiled sweetly at Zack. "He's bringing his buddy along for you to play with."

Zack rolled his eyes. "Thanks."

Max tried but couldn't stop her smile. "Great job, Becky. Let's get everybody down here to put the finishing touches on the plan. I don't think we should lie to White, should we?"

"That wouldn't be fair of us," Zack agreed.

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much to angelofdarkness78 and hphotshot for their reviews and support! It means a lot to me.


	54. Chapter 49

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"We're here," Becky said to Max as she and Riley walked up to her in front of the main building in Terminal City.

"Yep," Riley said. She carefully checked her nine millimeter. "We're ready to go." She made a face. "Not that I'm thrilled that we're letting Rob loose."

Max nodded. "I know what you mean. Let's do this." She, Riley, and Becky walked down the hallway until they got to a stairway and walked down the steps and into the basement. They walked down another hall until they reached a door and Max knocked on it. A moment later, the door opened to reveal Mia and another Psy Ops soldier standing on either side of Rob, who was lying down on a cot. "How did it go?"

"As well as can be expected," Mia said. "He's a little tired, but you know that's normal. The mental side of Psy Ops usually leaves the recipient at least as physically drained as the physical torture does."

"Yeah, I remember that," Max said. "Thank you. I'm going to have a talk with Rob. I'll let you know if I'll need you again. Becky and Riley will wait outside the door. Can you guys wait out there with them?"

"No problem," Mia said. She and the other Psy Ops soldier left the room with Becky and Riley.

Max shut the door and pulled up a chair next to Rob's cot. "Hello, there."

"Hello," Rob said quietly.

"Are you okay?" Max asked.

"I guess so," Rob said. He shrugged.

"I need to make sure that you understand exactly what's going on here," Max said. "We're springing you loose from temporary Psy Ops tonight if you've learned your lesson. If you haven't learned your lesson, you'll be kept here for longer."

"That goes without saying," Rob said sarcastically. Max glared at him and he winced. "Sorry."

"Rob, you are damn lucky that you are still alive," Max said. "The fact that what you did to Jeff wasn't premeditated is the only reason that you're still here and not dead in the ground or cremated. Nobody's going to trust you for a long time. If you haven't learned your lesson, nobody will ever trust you again. There isn't a single person out of all of us that will want to work with somebody who has already betrayed us. One word about the pot calling the kettle black and I will either ask Mia to get back to work or I'll ask Becky and Riley to get in here and we could do things their way. I guess it depends on which you'd prefer, physical torture or mental. We've been nice so far just keeping it to mental torture."

"I know," Rob said. "I have learned my lesson. I won't do anything like that ever again."

Max nodded. "Good. You can get up. You're free to blaze, but don't count on anybody to roll out the welcome wagon for you."

"I understand," Rob said. He slowly sat up and swung his legs around and stood up. He took a deep breath and left the room and went upstairs. Max and the others followed him. Once they got upstairs, Max, Becky, and Riley walked outside.

"I still think that we should beat the living hell out of him," Riley said. "If he tries any of this crap again, I get at least one good punch."

"Deal," Max said.

"I was thinking about maybe in a few days wanting to pull of a raid out on that new bank that opened up here in Seattle," Riley said. "It's the one from those surveillance photos that Dustin took for that heist a few weeks ago, remember? It looks like it would be a lot of fun to do."

"No argument there," Max agreed. "I haven't been at my night job in at least a few weeks. It'll be nice to be back in the swing of things with that." She looked over at Becky when she realized that Becky had been quiet for a relatively long time. "Are you okay, Becky?"

"I'm fine," Becky reassured her. "I'm always quiet before a major battle."

"Major battle," Max said, sighing.

"I'd call confronting someone with the fate of all of mankind a major battle," Riley remarked.

"Thanks a lot," Max said.

"I'm sorry," Riley apologized.

"No, I'm sorry too," Max said. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I just…in twenty-seven hours, I'm going to like you said, have the fate of all of mankind on my shoulders."

"Hey, you know that you're going to win," Riley said.

Max shrugged. "Yeah, the prophecy does say that I'm going to win, but at what cost? It doesn't say if I live or die through this and it doesn't say…" Max couldn't finish the thought and winced as the pain her unfinished thought caused, as well as from the look in Becky's eyes that she saw. She knew that Becky had to be worrying about the same thing.

"I'm going to go find Jeff and keep him company for awhile," Becky said. She walked off in another direction.

"I guess we're both putting our feet in our mouths," Max remarked.

"I guess so," Riley said. "I think I'll go to the gym and work off some steam. Do you want to come with me?"

"No, I think I'm just going to walk around for awhile and get my thoughts together and then I'm going to head back to my apartment," Max said. "Thanks for offering, though. I'll see you later."

Riley smiled. "I'll see you later." She walked off towards the gym.

Max sighed and walked around, finally sitting down on the steps of a building. _Riley and Becky were right. This is going to be a major battle tomorrow night. I've never been involved with anything like this with so much on the line, not even when Zack and Krit and Syl and I blew the DNA lab last year. I thought that the tension right before we left Seattle to head for Wyoming was bad, but this blows it to hell._

She idly nudged a stick on the ground around with her foot. _What can I do about it, though? Not much, that's for damn sure. I just got to deal with it and hang on tight until the ride's over. _She snorted. _Like I'm going to be enjoying this ride!_

Max stood up and started to walk back towards her apartment. _Just deal with it one minute at a time and you should be good, or sane at the very least. Just deal with it one minute at a time._

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much for your reviews and support, angelofdarkness78, HoneyX5-452, and Kelly! It means a lot to me.


	55. Chapter 50

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Notes: Spoiler-ish stuff for the pilot.

Rena sat on the couch of Sasha and Biggs' apartment, trying to concentrate on a magazine while Zane had his arm around her and tried to distract her. She finally rolled her eyes and elbowed Zane off of the couch and then winced and waited for either Jade or Julia or both of them to wake up. Neither of them did so Rena sighed in relief. "That was close."

"Yeah, I don't feel like dealing with two screaming six-month-olds right now," Zane said.

"I guess it's going to be awhile before we have kids," Rena said dryly.

"Actually, I was thinking if they're like you when they've been woken up early from a nap…" Zane teased. He ducked Rena's right hook and laughed. "What? Are you or aren't you the crankiest person on the face of the Earth when you've been woken up before you want to get up?"

"I refuse to dignify that question with an answer," Rena said.

"Good call, sis," Sasha said as she and Biggs entered the apartment. "How have the girls been tonight?"

"They've been angels," Rena said.

"Great," Sasha said. "Are they sleeping?"

Zane nodded. "Yeah, they've been asleep for the past half an hour."

"Good. They should be sleeping for at least another few hours," Sasha said. She sat down next to Rena on the couch and Biggs sat on the armrest next to Sasha.

"How was your 'date'?" Rena teased.

"It was great," Biggs remarked. "When we weren't keeping watch on the roof of the building by the east gate, we were making out like crazy monkeys."

"Have you guys heard anything more about tomorrow?" Sasha asked.

Rena and Zane both shook their heads. "No," Zane said. "The plans are more or less set. We'll tweak them a little tomorrow night before it goes down like usual, but other than that it's a done deal. All we have to do now is wait for showtime."

"This is insane," Biggs said. "I never liked pre-battle tension. I could deal with it because they taught us to deal with it but I never liked it. I don't know anybody who ever actually liked this crap." He stood up for a moment and stretched before he sat back down on the armrest. "Can you believe how tense things are getting already? We were walking back here and it seems like even some of the X8s are starting to feel the pressure of what's going to happen tomorrow and they aren't going to be involved at all, at least during the actual op."

"That does scare me a little bit," Rena admitted. "Those X8s are usually pretty cheerful. I guess it's a kid thing, but if even they are feeling this…damn, this is going to be big."

"That's for sure," Sasha said. "I've never felt anything like this to this kind of a degree. Have either of you?"

Rena and Zane suddenly tensed up and exchanged a look before Zane quickly stood up and walked over to the window. Rena leaned over and rested her forehead in her hands, both of them overwhelmed by the memories.

* * *

"_They took him to the infirmary. He was starting to come out of it and regain full consciousness. He was going to be okay and I thought that everything was going to be fine. Lydecker was there and I saw one of the guards that had brought Jack to the infirmary speak to him and then Lydecker spoke to the doctors and then he stood there in the operating room and they put Jack on the table and I thought they were going to give him some kind of treatment like maybe they actually found a way to fix the seizures now. They didn't give him any kind of treatment. They cut him open. They didn't cut him open like they were performing some kind of surgery to help him, they cut him open like they were performing an autopsy. Jack was still alive when they cut him open! They cut open his head and they started poking around in there and slicing his brain like it was the meat they serve to us in the cafeteria at lunch on Tuesdays. They killed our brother! The worst part was that Lydecker was just standing there watching them and he didn't say a word. He must have given them the order to slice Jack up like he was nothing. He let them kill Jack for no reason at all. It was so horrible."_

* * *

"_I never thought he would just kill us like that. He hurt us so badly, but actually kill one of us? I miss Jack. I miss him so much."_

"_I miss him too, Rena. It'll be okay. Remember what Zack said? Remember what we just talked about? A week or less. A week or less."_

"_I don't know if I can wait that long."_

* * *

"_Gale, are you shaking again?"_

"_No, I'm not. I haven't even had the littlest shakes since my last seizure."_

"_You are! No, no…"_

"_Brin, calm down. Gale's fine."_

"_I know, Zane, but…"_

"_Listen to him, Brin, and stay calm. We all need to keep it calm. We can't afford less."_

* * *

"_Maxie? Are you sure that you're okay?"_

"_Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry."_

* * *

"_Zack, for the millionth time, I am fine. I am absolutely fine. A little shaky is all that I was and it went away. Do I look like I am shaking now?"_

"_Actually, you are starting to shake again."_

"_What! This isn't good."_

"_Get back to your bunk and try to sleep it off. Maybe you've just been working too hard lately."_

"_Yeah, that's probably it. Good night."_

"_Do you need help getting back to your bunk?"_

"_It's only a few more steps. I can make it."_

"_Maxie!"_

* * *

"We have," Zane finally managed to say. "If there's anybody who's felt this much pre-battle tension before, it's our family." He took a deep breath and sat back down next to Rena on the couch. 

Biggs and Sasha winced. "Shit, we forgot about the escape," Biggs said.

"It's okay," Rena said.

All four of them were silent for a few minutes. "It was horrible, that whole twenty-four hours, wasn't it?" Sasha asked.

"Horrible is too light of a word to describe what our family went through," Zane said. "It's amazing how everything changed when we found out that Lydecker had ordered Jack to be killed so they could pick his brain apart so they could find out why he or any of us were having seizures. Before Jack collapsed when we were in line being debriefed after the training mission we'd just run, things felt so different. We still wanted to break loose from Manticore. We knew something was up, but some of us still weren't sure of what to do. Then Jack passed out and we went back to our barracks and we waited for Max to get back from following Jack and the guards and when she came back, it was like someone had dropped a bomb on us. If there were any questions before, there weren't then. We knew we had to get out and we also knew just how dangerous it would be and the twenty-four or so hours between when we made that final decision were the most tense in all of our lives. I felt like I was in some psychotic limbo during that time."

"I had no clue," Biggs said. He motioned to Sasha. "Neither of us, or Alec or I don't think any other transgenic, had an idea of what was going on that day. The only thing that I knew was that one night, I was woken up and I opened my eyes and saw my best friends, along with my commanding officer at the time, being dragged away and told that it would be explained later and I didn't see Sasha or Alec for six months after that."

"You're right, nobody knew exactly what we went through," Rena said. "People have hated us for so long for betraying Manticore and even this past year even after they knew that Manticore themselves betrayed everybody by torching the facility, they still hated us for running. They've been so much better especially the past few months, but I got so many dirty looks the first couple of months here in Terminal City. If they had known…" She took a deep breath and calmed herself down. "That's over with and maybe all of them will realize it, but we all have to move on. I have. We need to move on with this, too. We need to believe that this will turn out for the better. We need to know that this will turn out for the better. That's exactly what we need to do with this tension. Just hang on tight and it will be better than good in the end." She managed a smirk. "That's just my personal experience."

Zane and Biggs and Sasha laughed. "And that's good enough for me," Sasha said.

TBC

More notes: Thank you so much to angelofdarkness78 and HoneyX5-452 for their reviews and support! aod78, there will be more Max/Zack action in the next chapter and the ass kicking will be coming up a chapter or two or so after that. Thank you all so much again!


	56. Chapter 51

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"Three hours until we get this bitch started," Max said quietly to Zack the following night as they sat together on their bed. "It's almost time."

"I know," Zack agreed. He put his left arm around Max's shoulders and pulled her close to him. "Are you holding up okay?"

Max shrugged. "I don't know. I'm happy that this is going to be done and over with but I'm terrified at the same time."

"Don't worry, Maxie," Zack assured her. He kissed her gently. "Don't worry. I'll be okay. We'll both come out of this okay. I promise."

"I believe you," Max said. They sat quietly together for a few moments until Max got up and went into the kitchen and got herself a glass of water. A minute or two later, Zack joined her in the kitchen, carrying two of his guns. Max made a face. "Boys and their guns."

"I'm going to need these tonight, Max," Zack reminded her as he grabbed a cloth off of a counter. He sat down at the table and began to polish them.

Max sat down across from him and shook her head. "I know. And no, I won't take one so don't bother to offer one to me. Becky already offered to loan me one of hers about three or four times today and I turned her down every time."

Zack sighed. "Max…fine."

"If I don't have to worry, then you shouldn't either," Max said. She managed a smile which grew when she got one in return from Zack.

"Good point," Zack said. He put the gun that he was polishing back down on the table and took out two small boxes.

Max glanced at one of the boxes and her eyes widened. "Exploding hollow points? Isn't that overkill, Zack?"

"Maybe," Zack admitted. "That's why I'm putting them in this gun."

"Oh," Max said knowingly. "Your 'nasty-surprise-just-in-case' gun?"

"If it got us the victory over Unit 7 on that training mission we did the December before we left, then I don't see why it wouldn't work now," Zack said. "This time I'm putting the real deal in it and not rubber bullets."

"Yeah," Max said. "Try not to use it unless you absolutely need to. Don't use any of your guns unless you absolutely need to."

"It might…okay," Zack agreed.

Max grinned and tried to lighten the mood. "I really do have you whipped."

"If you ever tell Zane, Krit, or Wayne that…" Zack teased.

"What? You'll hurt me?" Max said innocently. "Hell, not that our love life need spicing up, but I'm always willing to try something new."

"I give up," Zack said.

They were quiet again for a few moments before they heard a knock at their door. "It's open. Come in," Max said.

"It's just us," Brin said as she, Syl, Krit, Jondy, Rena, Zane, Jace, and Wayne entered the apartment and went inside the kitchen.

"Hey," Zack said. "Where are Anthony and Little Max?"

"Alec's got Anthony," Brin said.

"Little Max is in the nursery," Jace said. "How are you guys doing?"

"Considering what's going to go down in a few house, not too bad," Max admitted. She smirked. "Let me guess: this would be where you'd come in to try to cheer us up if we were feeling too down about it?"

"And everybody thought that you were stupid," Krit quipped.

"No, just you," Max said.

"Same thing," Krit said.

"Syl, is it just me or has he gotten more full of himself lately?" Max asked.

Syl pretended to think about it. "Now that I think about it, you're right, Maxie."

"Self-confidence is a healthy thing to have," Wayne said, grinning wickedly.

Zane nodded. "Definitely. I can't imagine myself without self-confidence."

"Yeah, none of us can imagine you without self-confidence, either," Rena agreed.

"Gee, thanks a lot," Zane said.

"Anytime, babe, anytime," Rena said. She exchanged high-fives with her sisters.

"Keep saying that, sweetheart," Zane said. Before they could blink, he turned and pulled Rena into a deep kiss. "What do you have to say about my self-confidence now, Rena?"

"I say it's seriously turning me on right now," Rena said.

Several of the others groaned. "Whatever you do, don't do it in front of us," Krit said.

"Oh? This from the guy who's porno stash I happened to come across by accident the last time I stopped by his apartment to visit with Syl and whose stash happened to contain gems with titles such as—" Jace started to say.

"Nobody needs to know the exact contents of Krit's porno collection," Syl said.

"Agreed," Krit said immediately.

"But I'll tell them anyway," Syl said. "'Twisted—'"

"Okay, I'm sorry for leaving the toilet seat up and never remembering to put it back up. I promise on everything that's holy that I will never do that again," Krit said. He glared at the others, who were either grinning like maniacs or laughing hysterically. "It's not that funny and I am not as whipped as you apparently like to think that I am."

"You are," Wayne said.

"I am not," Krit said.

"You are," Zane agreed.

"I am not," Krit insisted.

Max opened her mouth to say something but stopped and looked down for a moment. Zack looked at her, concerned. "Are you okay, Maxie? What are you thinking?"

"I was thinking of Tinga," Max said softly. "And the others, too. I miss them so much, but I know they're going to be there tomorrow watching over us."

"With ten guardian angels, how can you miss?" Jondy joked, but she had the same wistful look in her eyes that Max did. "Especially those ten. How tenacious were they or what?"

"Oh they were," Zane said. "Ben and Kenny were two of the most stubborn guys ever created. We're all stubborn as hell in one way or another." He grinned and pointed to Max and Zack. "I think the only people that were even more stubborn than Ben and Kenny, at least in Gillette, are those two."

"It's done and over with, then," Brin said. "I've never had the honor of being face-to-face with White, but there's no way in hell that he can be more stubborn or tenacious than Zack and Max, especially when they're together. He doesn't have a chance in hell."

Max nodded and grinned. "Damn straight."

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much to hphotshot, angelofdarkness78, HoneyX5-452, and Kelly for their reviews and support!


	57. Chapter 52

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

_Only a few more minutes and the shit will go down,_ Max thought as she, Zack, and several other transgenics sat in one of two vans parked a few blocks away from the warehouse where the confrontation would take place. She glanced over to one of the computer monitors and saw the time in the corner of it. _Fifteen more minutes. That's all._

"It's me," Becky's voice said suddenly. They all turned to where it was coming out of the speakers that were near where Karen and Felicia were sitting. "All systems are in place."

Max smiled and put a hand to her earpiece. "Great work, Becky. Head to location A and wait for Alec and the rest of his group to meet up with you." She turned the earpiece off and looked over at Karen and Felicia. "Everything's running smooth?"

"Absolutely," Karen said. She gestured to the monitor that was in front of her as well as the one that was in front of Felicia. "The surveillance system is running as smoothly as can be. As soon as you give us the signal, we'll turn on the recording remotely and start projecting it."

"Perfect," Max said. She took a deep breath. "Everybody has everything he or she will need and in perfect condition?" Everybody nodded. "Everybody ready?" Again, everybody nodded. "Good, it's showtime. Move out."

They all got out of the van and waited for the transgenics in the second van to get out before they all started to move to their positions. Zack turned to Max and gave her shoulder a supportive squeeze. "This is it, Maxie."

"We'll beat this bitch," Max said. They gave each other a quick kiss. "Let's do it."

* * *

Caroline sat on her couch, her eyes glued to the cordless phone that sat on the coffee table in front of her. She didn't move at all when Dennis sat down next to her. "Hey."

"It won't make it happen any faster," Dennis said. "Becky won't call us before it's over."

Caroline turned her head to look at him and smiled faintly. "You're at least as worried as I am. Can you blame me?"

"Not at all, but you're going to strain your eyes," Dennis said. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "It's still only ten minutes to eleven, Caroline. It hasn't even started yet."

"I know that," Caroline said. She looked back at the phone again. "I almost feel like I did years ago on the day that Chris died. Mom and Dad and I were just sitting in the living room together that afternoon just waiting for somebody to call to let us know if Chris was going to be okay or not. We just spent hours just sitting there and waiting and when that call finally came…" She sighed. "I hate to say this in a way because it almost sounds disrespectful to Chris, but this feels even worse. Zack is my son, my child and…"

"I know," Dennis said. "Wherever Chris is right now, he knows and he understands and he's going to be keeping an eye on Zack and on Becky as well." He closed his eyes for a moment. "He has to get through this. We're only starting to get to know him and Becky. It wouldn't be fair if something happens now."

"It wasn't fair when Chris died at almost the same age," Caroline said quietly.

"He won't die," Dennis said quietly but fiercely. "We've got to believe it, Caroline. Zack will be fine."

"I believe it, but I'm still terrified," Caroline said.

"Me too," Dennis admitted. "So am I." He took a deep breath and they held each other's hand tightly as they sat and waited for Becky's call.

* * *

Becky stood quietly at her assigned spot until she saw Alec leading a small group of transgenics heading towards her. Alec walked up to her and handed her a rifle and started to make gestures and they spread out along one side of the building, some of them going inside the building next door, some of them simply hiding behind things on the street. Becky followed Alec inside the next door building and they entered a room walked over to the windows that faced the warehouse and opened them just enough for them to poke the muzzles of their rifles through. Becky looked around. "Everything looks clear from here."

"I agree," Alec said. "Alpha Group, do any of you see any sign of White or any other Familiars yet?" He and Becky waited, but none of the other group members saw anything, either. "Biggs, does your group see anything?"

"Beta Group doesn't see anything, either," Biggs reported. "I—"

"I think I might have him," Becky said quietly, cutting Biggs off. She zoomed in. "Grey sedan heading towards the warehouse. The car matches the description my parents gave me of the car that White last drove to the military camp outside of Terminal City." She blinked and zoomed back in on the car. "Two people in the car, both appearing to be male…yes, it's definitely White and his friend Stephen. Max, we've got a positive I.D. on them."

"I copy," Max said. "Zack and I are in position. You guys know what to do."

* * *

White drove up to the front of the warehouse and parked the car. He and Stephen just sat in there, staring at the building. "It really is an amazing feeling," White said. "To know that you're about to walk into history. To know that you're going to change fate for the better."

"I know what you mean," Stephen said, sounding almost awestruck. "Just a few more minutes and we'll have saved the planet for our Family. Can anybody say that? Nobody can."

"Yeah," White agreed. He blinked and tried to focus. "We still have work to do. Do you have your gun?"

"Of course I do," Stephen said. He took his nine-millimeter out of his pants pocket and looked it over before putting it back. "It's got a fresh clip loaded in it and it's ready to go. I've got an extra clip if I'll need it. Do you have your gun?"

"Absolutely," White said. He took out his own gun and looked at it and smiled before he put it away. He turned to look at Stephen. "I'm ready whenever you are."

Stephen nodded. "I'm ready. It's time to go make some history."

"I couldn't have said it any better myself," White said. They got out of the car and walked into the warehouse and stood inside. It was pitch black inside and neither of them could see any sign of Becky. "405? I'm here. I even had the courtesy of showing up right on time. Where are you?"

A few lights came on, lighting up the main area of the warehouse well enough but leaving plenty of shadows surrounding it. "Oh, I'm here," Becky's voice said. White looked around, but he still couldn't see Becky anywhere.

"This isn't the time to be playing hide-and-seek, 405," White growled. "I'm here all by myself. Where are you?" He looked at Stephen, who nodded and stepped back into some shadows.

"You need to relax, Ames. Tense isn't your thing," Becky's voice said.

"I don't have time for anymore games," White said. He put his hand on his gun and looked around again for Becky. "Where are you? Show yourself right now."

"Actually, I'm not here," Becky's voice said. "Sorry to disappoint you."

White blinked. "Excuse me? You're not here? What kind of a game are you playing? Get out here right now where I can see you."

"She's not here. I am."

* * *

Max smiled to herself as she heard Becky's voice being projected through the warehouse and White's replies get angrier. She looked at Zack and made a quick gesture. Zack gave her hand a squeeze and silently moved away to another corner of the warehouse. Max took a deep breath and stepped from behind the crate that she had been hiding behind.

"Excuse me? You're not here? What kind of a game are you playing? Get out here right now where I can see you."

"She's not here," Max said. "I am." She smirked at the surprised look on White's face. "Let me guess: you were expecting somebody else."

White smiled cruelly. "452. What happened, did 405 turn tail and run like the little freak that she is and you are?"

"Nope," Max said. "One, Becky is far from a coward. Two, she was never the one to meet you here. She's not The One. I am."

"You are?" White said skeptically. "She's physically better than you are."

"Well, I guess that answers the question of whether you prefer blonds or brunettes," Max remarked.

"This isn't the time to be getting smart with me, 452," White said. "405 is The One. She's got perfect DNA and she's physically superior."

"Becky isn't The One," Max said. "What can I say? Being older does matter after all."

White was silent for a few moments. "So it's you. The whole time, it was you after all."

"You win the prize," Max said.

"This is going to be easy," White said. _This will be even better than confronting 405. 452 is a close match for me but with Stephen here, there's absolutely no way that 452 will come out of this one alive!_

"Easy? I don't think so," Max said.

"But I do," White said. He started to smile when he heard Stephen cock his gun but it turned to shock as Zack blurred over and knocked Stephen to the ground. "What the fuck is going on here!"

"Ooops," Max said sweetly. "Did I forget to mention how fucking predictable you are, White? Did you really think that I wouldn't figure out that while you might actually not bring in a large force of your Familiars, and don't worry about that, we still have precautions in place just in case you still do, you wouldn't be able to resist bringing your best friend along for the ride?" Her eyes narrowed. "You'd better buckle your seat belt because this ride is going to get really nasty for you."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," White said. He attacked Max. They fought hard, neither of them giving the other any breathing room. He swung at Max hard and smiled cruelly when he connected. "I'm sorry, 452, did that hurt? It's really too bad that you freaks can feel pain like those pathetic humans."

"No, it felt really good," Max said sarcastically. She flipped over White's head and knocked him down to the ground before he could react. She tried to kick him, but he grabbed her ankle and knocked her down to the ground. He tried to kick her in the stomach, but Max grabbed his ankle before he could and repeated what he had just done to her before she got up and they circled each other again. "If feeling pain makes me pathetic, I have never been more proud to call myself pathetic in my entire life."

"Life…can you freaks really call yourselves alive? You weren't born. You little animals were created," White hissed.

"Um, yeah, we were born," Max said. "You've heard of surrogate mothers, haven't you? They volunteer to carry children for somebody else. We were created, but weren't you? I was put together in some lab in middle-of-nowhere Wyoming, but you were also created. It might have been by the old fashioned way, but you were still created and you were born." She grinned wickedly. "Just like me."

White narrowed his eyes in anger. "Not just like me. Never just like me." He attacked Max again. "You freaks are nothing like me at all. We couldn't be any more different from each other."

"Oh, really? Pray tell," Max said sarcastically as she connected with White's face. "We have two eyes, two ears, a nose, two legs, everything else seems to be in the right place…" She let her eyes drift down to White's crotch and smirked. "Those you seem to have certain shortcomings that I know that Zack doesn't have. I guess that's one of the drawbacks to selective breeding. That and stupidity."

"We are not stupid, 452," White said. "We are far smarter than you animals can ever hope to be."

"Unless you were all bred to have higher than genius IQs and photographic memories, then get a freaking reality check," Max said. "Either that or you can enlighten me."

"I'll be more than glad to enlighten you, 452," White assured her as he kicked out at Max's leg.

Max stumbled, but stayed on her feet and smiled cheerfully at White. "Do you say that to all the girls or only to the ones who are really special to you?"

"Very funny," White said. "We've engineered a virus."

"Big deal," Max said. She pretended to yawn as she attacked White. "What makes you so special? Not that it matters. Transgenics are immune to any and all viruses that anybody can come up with."

"That may be the case," White conceded, though the cruel look on his face didn't go away. "And unfortunately, it is also the case with this particular virus, but the humans aren't. When my people and I release this virus next month into the water supply and into the air, the humans will die. All of the humans will die. The only ones who will be left will be Familiars such as myself and Stephen and you filthy animals and we will get rid of you soon enough. After all, there are only a few thousand of you freaks and there are millions of us."

Max was horrified. _That must be what he meant by The Coming when Zack and I ran into him and Stephen that time._ "That's sick! Killing billions of innocent people because you have some kind of superiority complex?"

"We're only doing what needed to be done," White said. He took advantage of Max's shock and backhanded her. "Just like we took care of Colonel Robinson's daughter. Well, at least we tried to take care of her. It's too bad she managed to escape in the confusion. It would have been perfect to be able to pin the blame on you freaks. As soon as we get the chance, we'll properly take care of Colonel Robinson and General Murphy. Not that it'll matter that much after we kill you, but it'll still make it easier for us and harder for you."

"You won't touch them," Zack said angrily as he kicked Stephen in the back. He was almost surprised at how furious that statement made him.

"I can and I will because you won't be there to stop me, 599," White said calmly as he advanced on Max. Zack tried to make a grab at White, but Stephen recovered and went back at Zack again. White grinned and pushed Max back and whipped out his gun and aimed at her.

"Max, no!" Zack yelled. He took out one of his guns and aimed it at White's head and fired, but Stephen shoved Zack down just as he pulled the trigger. Miraculously, the bullet still hit White's gun and sent it flying out of the way. Max took advantage of this and attacked White again. The four of them fought for what seemed like ages.

"This has to be over," Stephen said. He found his gun again and managed to pistol-whip Zack, who fell to the ground, hitting his head when he landed and he lay there, stunned. Zack managed to grab Stephen as he was falling and Stephen also hit hard when he landed and was similarly stunned.

"Son-of-a-bitch," White said. He hit Max hard and knocked her to the ground.

Max gasped for breath and tried not to panic when she saw Zack lying on the ground and not moving very much with Stephen half on top of him. _You've got to stay cool, Max. Keep your head in the game! Just play possum for a few and you can take White down and then get Zack up and then we can finish this bitch. Play it cool._

"Oh, look what we have here," White said, grinning as he bent over and picked up Stephen's gun. "452 and 599 are both down for the count. Is this my lucky day or what?" He looked Stephen's gun over and then looked back and forth between Max and Zack. "Which one should I kill first? Should I kill 452 first or should I kill 599 first just to make 452 suffer that much more? That's one tough decision." He pretended to think about it. "Hell, I want to get as much fun as I can get out of this. 452, say good-bye to your precious boyfriend."

* * *

Zack blinked and tried to get his legs out from underneath Stephen, but it felt like his body was moving as if he was underwater. He looked up and saw White standing over him.

"…452 first or should I kill 599 first just to make 452 suffer that much more? That's one tough decision." There was a brief pause. "Hell, I want to get as much fun as I can get out of this. 452, say good-bye to your precious boyfriend."

_Maxie, please go with this,_ Zack thought as he managed to reach into one of his jeans pockets with his right hand and slid something over to Max.

* * *

Max started to panic when she barely heard something slide over to her. Without any hesitation whatsoever, she smoothly picked it up and got to her feet. "How about you get a nasty surprise instead?" She pulled the trigger and hit White dead-on in the side of the head. White didn't have a chance to get away and his body collapsed in a heap. She stared at White's body for a few moments before she ran over to Zack and helped him out from underneath Stephen. "Zack, baby, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Zack said. "I just got my bell rung for a minute. I'll be okay." He looked over at White. "It's over. He's dead."

"Considering you gave me your 'just-in-case' gun, he should be," Max said. She handed the gun back to Zack before pulling him in for a kiss. "It's over."

"What the…Ames? Ames? What the fuck did you filthy freaks do?" Stephen demanded as he regained his senses and saw White's body lying nearby.

"We did what had to be done," Max mocked. "He was trying to kill us, remember?"

"He was only doing what was right," Stephen said. He glared at them and gently took his gun from White's cold hand and aimed it and Max and Zack. "That's what I'm going to do right now." He started to take a step towards them, but stopped and collapsed, screaming. "What the hell? What the hell is this?"

"Excuse me?" Zack said, genuinely confused.

"My head…my head…" Stephen gasped. "My side…my back…my leg…what the hell is wrong with me?"

Max suddenly understood what was going on with Stephen. A sentence from the prophecy and one that had appeared only the day before came to her mind. _When The One has defeated The Dark One before the sickness can be unleashed, the shroud will be lifted, not only from the helpless but from whom The Dark One belongs to. Do not fear, for soon the world will be safe and the ones whom The Dark One belongs to will no longer be able to harm everybody. This must be what they meant!_ She smirked. "You know, men are such babies when it comes to dealing with pain."

"What are talking about, 452?" Stephen demanded.

"If you're as smart as you claim to be, you'll figure it out," Max said. "Zack, let's get out of here." She and Zack headed for the underground exit of the warehouse. "It's me. We're both okay. Maybe a little banged up, but we're okay and White's dead. Karen, make the transmissions to Dix and Luke and give them the go ahead to make the calls and transmissions necessary. Everybody else, fall back to your respective vans. As soon as Zack and I get inside our van, we're out of here and back to Terminal City." She grinned and turned to Zack and they headed through the tunnel. "Let's blaze."

TBC

Notes: Thank you so much to angelofdarkness78 and babyb26 for your reviews and support! Just one more chapter to go in this fic and then I'll start the sequel!


	58. Chapter 53

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"They're here!" Jeff yelled as Max, Zack, and the others who had gone arrived back in the control room in Terminal City. Everybody cheered.

"Holy shit," Max said, her eyes wide as she looked at the cheering transgenics. "I can't believe it."

"Actions do speak louder than words, sweetheart," Mole said with a grin. "You did kill the scumbag, right?"

"He's definitely dead," Max said. "I couldn't hear a heartbeat. That happens when you take one in the head from a gun loaded with exploding hollow points."

Alec looked surprised. "I thought you said that you'd never use a gun again."

"I said I'd only use it in the most extreme of extreme circumstances," Max said. "He had a gun pointed at Zack who was slightly out of it and pinned underneath Stephen and was this close to firing the gun. That counts in my book as the most extreme of extreme circumstances. Nobody tries to kill the ones that I love."

"If anybody tried to hurt Brin or Tony, they'd be dead before anybody can blink," Alec agreed. "You did damn good in there, Max."

Becky grinned. "I can't believe we pulled all of this off. I really can't believe it."

"Believe it, Becky," Max said.

"The fun's only beginning," Dix said. "The transmissions were made. Stephen should have been picked up by an ambulance and formally arrested for attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder, among other charges by now. If we're lucky, he'll break and give the authorities the names of other Familiars. They're toast, especially considering how high ranking General Murphy is." He smiled and shook his head in amazement. "So these guys are all normal now? Whatever specially bred traits they have are gone?"

"Yeah," Zack said. "Just moments after Max killed White, Stephen had his first experience with pain. I heard him try to follow us, but it definitely sounded as if he was moving at normal human speed and I heard him collapse before he could get to the exit that Max and I had used. They're down for the count."

Brin smiled. "It'll be nice not to have to worry about Familiars trying to attack us or the children. They won't be able to do that again. Hell, they don't even exist anymore."

"They don't," Max said. "Now they're just another cult who will just go away like so many other religious cults have throughout history." She made a face. "Great, I'm starting to sound full of myself."

"You've been hanging around Alec too long," Sasha said.

"Thanks, Sasha," Alec said. "I can't tell you how it warms my heart to know that I can always count on one of my oldest and best friends."

"Anytime, bro," Sasha said cheerfully.

"This calls for one massive party," Jondy yelled triumphantly. The crowd cheered.

"Whoa, not right now," Max said, laughing. "I am way too tired and so is Zack and he took a hard hit to the head back in the warehouse so the only place he's going right now is med bay."

Zack turned to give Krit a glare. "I heard that whip-cracking noise, Krit. I didn't hit my head that hard."

"I think everybody needs to know the contents of your porno stash now," Syl said wickedly.

Krit's eyes widened in horror. "Sweetie, please don't tell them? Please?"

"Convince me not to," Syl said, still smiling.

"I'll do my best," Krit said. He pulled her in and kissed her deeply.

"We save the world and he's still…Krit," Max said, laughing.

"You, Maxie," Zack said. "You were the one who saved the world. You were the one who had killed White and saved every human being on this planet. I didn't."

"I couldn't have done it without you," Max insisted. "You kept Stephen busy while I fought White. If you hadn't gotten that shot off at White, he would have killed me. I couldn't have done it without you and I couldn't have done it without anybody here."

"No matter how we distribute the credit for this," Zack said. "You are the most amazing person that I have ever known." He leaned down and kissed her. "I love you so much, Maxie."

"I love you, too, Zack," Max said. They both smiled and kissed each other again.

"Time out there, kids," Wayne teased. "As your field med slash doctor, it's sort of my duty to haul Zack's ass over to the med bay to make sure that he still has what passes for a brain in his skull." He ducked the swing that Max took at him and laughed. "And yes, to treat myself for whatever injuries Maxie decides to inflict on me if I don't shut my mouth."

"Hey, Jondy, there's hope for him," Max said.

"Sweet," Jondy said happily.

"Seriously, come on and let's get over to med bay and I'll check Zack," Wayne said. "Are you okay, Maxie?"

"I'm fine," Max said.

"You're more than fine," Zack murmured in her ear.

Max blushed a little but smiled. "Yeah, I guess I am." She gave Zack another kiss and then they headed off to the med bay.

The end!

Notes: Thank you so much to angelofdarkness78, hphotshot, babyb26, Kelly, HoneyX5-452, jracklesfan77, poptart, willow98002, Speedy, Doza, Gabbie760, Jade Hunter, darkangel494, hphotshot5, steph, Casper, and punkcatwitissues for all of their reviews and support! It meant and still means a lot to me. I'll try to start posting the sequel to this fic soon. I'm still working on my fic "A Taste of Everyday" on my website and yahoo fic group and I updated that recently, so please check it out! Thank you all so much again and stay tuned for the sequel!


End file.
